A Lousy Blockbuster

Rating: 6/10 (14 July 2005)

Maybe I'm being harsh. I don't think most of the people cared that the movie was based on a novel by HG Wells, which in my opinion makes a good reader. Even then, the movie was made at a wrong time, and improvised in the worst ways thinkable.
After blockbusters like Independence Day, E.T. and Men In Black, War of the Worlds would in no way succeed unless it carried the same magnitude of novelty and uniqueness as them. Gigantic tripods on a mission to destroy earth and a single father saves the world while rescuing his daughter from the aliens exterminating all living beings on the green planet.
Tom Cruise did one thing right: play his age. Only in WotW and Collateral has he played a 40+ dude. He may not look so old but we've seen him as a leading star for 20 years. Tim Robbins, it seemed like the mafia gun-pointed him into taking up the 7 minute role of an optimistic psycho as dumbfounded as the one he played in Mystic River.
And Spielberg, oh Spielberg. Why? He makes movies in the alternate order of Drama and Sci Fi. Maybe 2 dramas to a sci-fi, but there are still ideas in the open as far as Sci-Fi's go. The dramas are no doubt Oscar worthy every time but Sci-Fi's, he's content with best SFX awards. While not implying he should make all flicks for best movie awards, they should at least make sense from beginning to end.
Gonna end my cynicism here, watch the movie, just expect it to be below par as far as entertainment goes. The production values were excellent, hey - its a Spielberg flick after all!