Was expecting the worst

Rating: 7/10 (3 September 2005)

I'd read a lot of bad things about this film when it came out, so I thought I'd wait until the hoopla died down, that way I could see it at a theater near me that shows movies well after their normal run ... and admission is only $4. Turns out, it was not a total waste. I ended up enjoying the movie DESPITE the sentimental, family-reuniting plot used to tie the action together. It almost felt as though Spielberg was toying with some of his own conventions from movies like ET (ie: the scene where a Spongebob cartoon is playing on the TV, commenting on the ongoing action and a lot of the family's dialog throughout). It was like watching the evil, flip-side of ET. After awhile, I almost ignored this aspect of the movie because it became so overwhelmed by the Martian invasion itself. The tripods were easily the coolest  and scariest  sci-fi devices I've seen in awhile. Their first appearance is nothing short of stunning. The on-the-ground visual approach to the film worked extremely well; which seems like the whole point of showing it from one family's point-of-view. All of the atrocities committed by the invaders  the harvesting of blood, the disintegrations  were palpable from this angle. The scenes of mass migration from major cities, and especially the shot of scores of bodies floating downstream really disturbed me, especially considering the recent situation in New Orleans. And when people began rioting and shooting at each other over a car that ran, the whole invasion situation seemed eerily real. If only the family's story didn't get in the way in certain places (ie: the son appearing at the end... it would have been more believable had he died), this could have been a far better movie.