Similar to the book in many ways

Rating: 7/10 (30 October 2006)

I saw this movie at the theatre and loved it. Tom Cruise being a bit of a dick aside, I enjoyed the way the plot seemed to be staying close to the plot of the book. Well, OK, it's set about a hundred years later, and in America too, but Spielberg chose a lot of it (at least, the final scene, to me) to be set in a rather 'english' part of America. I wasn't sure about the martian machines being underground all this time, either.
However, the same elements and scenes from the original book appeared to be preserved as well: the sense of absolute shock and horror, the uselessness of the efforts of the military, the scene on the ferry, the scene trapped under the house with Ogilvy. I particularly liked the final scenes, where the birds are landing on the martians' machines. It brought home the feeling that earthly nature had won out.