Reason to Recall the Impact of H.G. Well's Apocalyptic Book

Rating: 7/10 (24 November 2005)

The real dazzler about this reincarnation of an old story is that it IS the reincarnation of an old story. H.G. Wells published his scary sci-fi novel in 1898, Orson Welles terrified the country in his 1938 radio drama version of the book, in 1953 the book became a film, and now in the time of terrorism Steven Spielberg makes the story not an invasion from Mars but an enemy from within the bowels of the globe. Quite a fest for a book over a hundred years old to still seem pertinent.
Steven Spielberg once again proves he can outdo most anyone with costly productions. His style is evident from the first moments when the actions seems centered on the broken family of Ray (Tom Cruise) and his ex-wife Maryann (Miranda Otto) as she leaves their children Rachel (Dakota Fanning) and Ray (Justin Chatwin) with Ray in New Jersey while Maryann and her new husband take a trip to Boston. The tension is obvious: Ray is not a father-type and finds communication with his children tedious at best. The Spielberg family drama recipe is set.
The action starts almost immediately with newscasts of electrical field disturbances on the media and then the occurrence of lightning without thunder in New Jersey. In rapid motion the etiology of the altered weather is seen to be the emergence out of the ground of huge tripod machines that destroy everything in sight ("Is it terrorists?" Rachel repeatedly asks, driving home the underlying tone of Spielberg's intention of making the story relevant to our time). New Jersey is destroyed but Ray and the kids find a car that works and drives toward Boston for reconciliation with Maryann. What happens between New Jersey and Boston is a battle to end all battles during which time Ray discovers the importance of his fatherhood, the love of his children, and his own humbling recognition that he is but one member of the planet earth.
The stars of the film are the extraordinary tripod machines, though Cruise and Fanning hold their own. One leaves the film feeling it could have had more impact had it stuck more closely to the book, but then that's been done before. Grady Harp