I was very worried about the performance of Tom Cruise

Rating: 7/10 (2 July 2005)

I was very worried about the performance of Tom Cruise and at first thought Tom Hanks would be a better choice. Also because a pretty face can destroy a particular character.But I must admit that Tom Cruise is a great actor though I still would prefer a more "observer" kinda actor like Sam Neill or John Hurt in sucha role. Sam Neill the best actor you can find around in my opinion. One of the only actors who can make you forget his face cause he really is the character and not a kind of "copy of".
But CHAPO; Tom Cruise.
Spielberg did the greatest job by following the original The War of the Worlds novel which, don't forget was already written in 1898! What I mist was the third person observing from the outside. The voice in the beginning is a little mistake from Spielberg. That should be the voice of Tom Cruise which would ad up to the character as more "observing" and less "undergoing" like it did in the movie.
What is so amazing about the book is that it still is able to touch the hart which again proves the genius of H.G. Wells. They didn't have laser-technology in 1898, think about that!
People who played the game Half_Life surely recognize these tripods. Actually they where greatly inspired by H.G.Wells War of the World machines. Myself couldn't think of anything else when playing this part of the game, really huge.
The special effects in this movie are really really great and that always has been Spielberg's major quality. He must have a great eye for those talents in the business no doubt about it.
Still wondering about why the have chosen a different film size not 2:1 folks? I liked this unusual, kinda old need fashioned film size. Did you notice how the higher ISO from the used celluloid added up to the special effect scenes?
And remember; "Orson Welles' Mercury Theater radio broadcast, based on The War of the Worlds, caused a panic in the Eastern United States on October 30, 1938. In Newark, New Jersey, all the occupants of a block of flats left their homes with wet towels round their heads and in Harlem a congregation fell to its knees. Welles, who first considered the show silly, was shaken by the panic he had unleashed and promised that he would never do anything like it again. Later Welles attempted to claim authorship for the script, but it was written by Howard Koch, whose inside story of the whole episode, The panic broadcast; portrait of an event,appeared in 1970."