Insulting

Rating: 1/10 (10 July 2005)

Though I went in with low expectations, I was absolutely blown away by "War of the Worlds" nonetheless. Not only did this film lack subtlety, decent acting, good dialogue and plot twits - but it also lacked plot. No real character development. No backstory to speak of. Aside from the main three, there were just a few non-main characters, all of whom were very minor and did nothing to drive the story.
In fact, nothing drove the story except the aliens. And what story there was can be almost fully described thus: Tom Cruise gets his kids from his ex for the weekend, Aliens attack, Tom Cruise and kiddies flee New York while trying to make it to Boston where Cruise's ex-wife is, son runs off (with military? - it was never clear), they all almost die - a bunch of times, they somehow make it to Boston (on foot? - it was never clear), aliens die, family reunited (all alive of course), death of aliens explained. That's it. Trust me - you didn't miss a thing. None of the characters or relationships changed AT ALL from beginning to end. At the same time, though, the characters were so dull that I don't know how they could have developed.
As suggested, there were a couple major gaps. How did Cruise and daughter get back to Boston? What happened to the son when he ran off? How did he get back to Boston? Why did that camcorder - and all the TV reporter's equipment work? I thought all that electronic stuff got zapped in the first half hour.
A real stinker, even considering that it's a Spielberg product.