What Special Effects!

Rating: Null/10 (28 July 2005)

That's it. Guess it's possible that the Oscar for special effects could go to this turkey. Pretty scary lightning storm, or whatever it was. Pretty scary war machines, especially coming over the hill toward the ferry boat. The rest of the movie? GAWD! Let's see, I read a bunch of the reviews others wrote here, and they seemed to cover most of the points that had me groaning. The idiots who only moved back far enough to keep from falling into the hole as the giant monster thing came up through the street, for example. I'd have run like hell, wouldn't you? And if I lived in New York City and it was being destroyed by these things, I'm pretty sure I'd head straight for . . . BOSTON? No, on second thoughts, I think I'd head for the Adirondaks, and from there up to the Great White North. Alone.
Let's not even mention the kids. Others have covered how lovable and sympathetic they were better than I could. I refer you back to EVERY previous comment herein. Tom himself. Wasn't really pulling for him either. He could have been vaporized and it wouldn't have seemed like much of a loss.
So many places where credulity was stretched and s t r e t c h e d again, like the convenient open path down every crowded street and road, no matter how many stalled cars or collapsed buildings or crashed airplanes ALMOST blocked the path. And the survival of obnoxious son Robbie when the whole damn ARMY is wiped out in a giant fireball. Amazing! And how about those aliens, all dying SIMULTANEOUSLY, each in his own (presumably airtight) war machine. Would YOU invade an alien planet and breathe the air and eat and drink from the local supply? I sure would bring my own; even our own primitive Army has its MRE's.
This would be OK as an HBO special, or maybe a DVD rental. Except that tripod foghorn blast and the lightning effects sure were cool on the big theater speakers!