I don't see what the complaints are about

Rating: 7/10 (3 July 2005)

I was a little skeptical about going to see War of the Worlds. I had read some pretty disheartening reviews for the film, many of which were from IMDb users, so War of the Worlds seemed kinda "ify." After watching it though, I thought it was pretty good and I just don't think the complaints with the film are justified (aside from the fact that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and just like any other movie some people are gonna hate this movie). Like everyone else I thought the special effects were great--didn't look cheesy at all. Unlike some other people, though, I thought the story was good and--in light of the situation--realistic. There's not much character development except for those initial insights that we get at the beginning of the film between the members of the main character's family. I think this is appropriate though. The world is being attacked by aliens; there's no time for Tom Cruise to look at his son and say "Hey, I'm sorry I wasn't there, I'm a bad father, blah, blah." His main concern was getting the hell away from all the killing and finding somewhere safe. For me, the lack of character development really emphasized the sense of urgency that dominates most of the film. The machines were popping up everywhere, I for one would have thought it to be ludicrous if the father would have sat down with his kids and asked them how can they make their relationship better.
And so what if the end was kinda sappy--okay, really sappy. After all the dying (it's a really dark movie) I welcomed the happy, sappy ending.
The film did have other flaws, but they're easily overlooked. It's not a documentary, it's a fun film that you can sit down and watch and see stuff getting blown up and say, "Dang, that was kinda cool."