Excellent!

Rating: 8/10 (3 July 2005)

Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) is a lift driver, divorced from Mary-Ann (Miranda Otto), who, on his way home from work, bumps into Mary-Ann and her new boyfriend, Tim, who are there to drop off the two kids, Robbie (Justin Chapman) and Rachel (Dakota Fanning). When they are bored, Robbie drives off illegally. Rachel orders hummus. Ray is half asleep, until a great storm...well, great until something comes up from the ground.
Loosely based on H.G. Wells' novel, and seeming to borrow more from the radio broadcast, Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds seemed, from the trailers, to look like a stupid Spielberg summer (ooh three s's!) blockbuster that everyone would think is dumb in five years time. But when I went to see it...far out. From the first word...I was amazed. When I said "borrow more from the radio broadcast" I am quite correct. The first speech is said by Morgan Freeman who seems to be making a big comeback into Hollywood with Unleashed, Batman Begins, and this, War of the Worlds. Freeman reads basically what Orson Welles does in the broadcast, except it was altered to suit the modern times. Spielberg has really done this very well, and I am not a big fan of Tom Cruise (except in Collateral), but a big fan of Dakota Fanning, and these three are great when they are put together. I think when Spielberg said he wanted to scare audiences just like Orson Welles did, he put that statement to justice. Really the second half of the film, though, really scared me. But the scariest part is when Ray and Rachel are "surviving" with Tim Robbins' character, Ogilvy. One of the scariest parts in this whole situation was when Tom Cruise blindfolded Rachel and told her to sing a nursery rhyme, so she didn't hear him do a certain something. There is also possibly one of the scariest scenes when the Ferriers have a car, and many people bash it, and beat Ray up because they have it. The reason it's scary: it's human behaviour. We are like that, we are all scary, wanting things for ourselves. Survival of the fittest, not the ones doing the same thing. This movie, I think, H.G. Wells would approve of, because it is an unusually dark and eerie picture from Spielberg, adding to the level of human emotion, fright, and love. Another part of this movie I really liked: Spielberg focused more on the main three characters than the aliens invading, which I liked very much, and also, the CGI didn't overrule the story, which made it all the more scarier. Justin Chapman, although I thought wasn't a great addition to the production, I must admit did a very good job of being the stuck up son who doesn't give a crap about his father, just himself. We can just glide over Tom Cruise for a second. He was predictably great as Ray Ferrier, and did a good job of being the father trying to take control of the situation he knows he might not escape from. But to Dakota Fanning: AMAZING. If the Oscars don't at least nominate her, I will complain, as I think many other people will, because she was just great in this. Wait, great isn't the word. There is no word for Dakota's amazingly brilliantly tremendously awesome performance. She did one amazing job in this movie, especially when she was frightened. When she sang the lullaby, it made me shiver...and when she screamed looking at the camera...Dakota, you deserve an Oscar for this performance. I am dead serious. If she doesn't win or even get nominated, I will write a complaint to the Academy Awards® to put it lightly. Spielberg did a great job in casting her, I really think he did.
by movie-man2000 from http://movie-man2000.blogspot.com