Unsurpassed effects overcomes fatal plot hole

Rating: 8/10 (2 July 2005)

(POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR ANYONE WHO HAS NOT READ THE BOOK) You won't be disappointed shelling out nine dollars for this one. Looks great, sounds great, hews to the spirit of Wells' book, does homage to every previous version, radio broadcast, Gorge Pal film, and LP with Riuchard Burton. All the elements of Wells story are there, the stranger in the farmhouse, the Thunder Child, and the red weed.
An obvious attempt to stand "CE3K" on its head, and equally obvious to use Dakota Fanning to make you think of Drew Barrymore in "E.T." A very good addition not found in any other version to the original story comes late in the movie.
(DEFINITE SPOILER) But a warning for hardcore science fiction fans: Spielberg adds an element to the Martian invasion that renders the movie what Roger Ebert has called the Idiot Plot. We learn that the Martians prepared for their invasion by burying their Tripods on earth long ago. If that's the case, then WHY INVADE NOW? And why didn't earth's germs get them while they were burying the machines? (Never mind the guy at ground zero with the working video camera.)
It would appear that, due to the characteristics of the medium and the anti-visual bias of science fiction storytelling, Spielberg has proved again that it is impossible to make a good science fiction film. Two points off for the gigantic plot hole.