This movie has heart.

Rating: 10/10 (7 August 2005)

I went to this movie expecting to see great special effects and to see acting that sort of fleshed out a basic story. I did not expect the great acting of Tom Cruise and the story to make the special effects secondary aspects of the movie. There are a few similarities between the 1953 movie and this one. Amusingly enough, they both show all earthly machines to stop functioning then have one item that somehow works. In the 53 film, after everyone is astounded that nothing works, a police car with siren pulls up to the square dance. In both,it could be that only the machines that were running (watches,cars,etc) became affected by the alien's influence.This could explain the item in the 05 movie working as it did. This movie focused on how people dealt with the insane situation given to--naturally--Tom Cruise's character, Ray Ferrier. Some people I know who also saw the movie commented that the whole dysfunctional family thing was a cliché'. Yet dysfunctional families are all over. What isn't a cliché' anymore? Spielberg wove this tapestry of horror before our eyes with this family's attempts to stay alive. This movie has heart.The interaction of the family members with themselves and others, Cruise's display of every kind of emotion and their hellish adventure made this movie. His character matured through the movie as he attempted to keep his children safe while struggling to travel to a place he hopes is not destroyed. He is forced to do horrible things which you know Ray Ferrier would not normally do or even consider. No special effects were needed although they were excellent and horrifying. Especially if you are a parent. Spielberg almost always gets the best from his actors and does so here. Spielberg has excellent special effects on top of a heater-skelter nightmare. What he does with the story, though,is even more frightening as what is not seen is just as scary as what is seen. He uses the effects to make bad situations worse. The ways that people are killed by the aliens are horrifying in themselves. As in the first movie, you wonder if anyone is going to survive. Even if you've read the book (which is a social commentary),heard the 1938 radio broadcast, and seen the 1953 movie, predicting who will survive is guess work. Sure you can lay odds that the star will survive--but will he? The result of all this was an out of control ride. Survival is the name of the game and the humans cannot make the rules. There is no way the humans can fight back and so there is no feeling of control or when and how this will end.Some who demand a solid plot may not like this movie for that reason. Nevertheless, I recommend this movie to all able-bodied humans and aliens. You will feel what the characters are feeling and you may wonder how you would do yourself.