Induces dread!

Rating: 9/10 (9 July 2005)

Okay, I've been waiting for a film to make me feel totally helpless for years  and finally someone has done it. I congratulate Spielberg for this one, because finally he has made a film that doesn't make me want to vomit due to it' overall niceness! In fact, it made me want to vomit because I was genuinely terrified several times throughout this awesome take of HG Well's novel. It is a shame that it is not true to the book  but I picked up on many tips of the hat to the earlier film, the musical, and the novel.
The aliens machines were so incredibly well realised; just hearing their fog-horn like call puts shivers down my spine and makes me want to run like ****! I remember hoping someone would do a modification to Half-Life 2 to incorporate these monsters in place of the Striders! I noticed that Spielberg has deliberately avoided gore. In my eyes, it is the mark of a great director that he can imply something to greater effect than seeing blood and guts. A good example is the 'straw' that is sucking organic material from live victims, and the baskets on the tripods. Of course, those who read the novel or listened to the musical will already know what is happening to these poor unfortunates.
The heat ray is spectacular  literally evaporating humans in an instant, leaving only the tissue-light ash wisps floating in the air. There was a scene where hundreds of these 'wisps' were floating past, and you knew hundreds of people had just died.
Trying to avoid spoilers  But I disagree that the ending was 'sappy'. (Although it was 'convenient' that those exact people survived everything.) I felt it was eerie how Tom was walking through the abandoned streets  but that should have been much more graphic. Listen to 'dead London' on the musical to understand what I mean. I did, however, enjoy the US Army getting it's own back on one of the b**gers - even if it was dying. I'm not sure why the machine's shields stopped working though...
I wish the film was closer to the book in many ways, but I do not find that a good enough reason to mark it down  as it has it's own staggering merits. Please, don't vote this a 1 just because you are mad about the book or Tom Cruise Just watch the film and get lost in the atmosphere Spielberg portrays so superbly!
9/10