Much Ado about Nothing

Rating: 5/10 (7 July 2005)

Spielberg's War of the Worlds is pretty awful. I expected much more after all the hype, but what a disappointment. With all the resources Spielberg has he seems to have lost his way here, this movie is just gimmicks and spends too much time in wallowing in tricks and too little time on a proper story line.
There was at least a story in the H G Wells book. This version was just far fetched, so distant from anything remotely believable it became boring. The whole thing was badly written, at least try and make the scenes appear believable. The TV crew outside the house with the stupid reporter who looked more like she was doing a candid camera sketch than in the middle of an air disaster that was part of a martian invasion. Were you on the plane? she asks Cruise: No! Cruise replies, she retorts: Oh what a pity it would have made a great story. Who writes such rubbish, surely, these days audiences get hacked off with the way Hollywood dumb down everything.
Unfortunately, I started to get itchy feet before an hour had gone by. I tend to judge movies by the watch factor, how long before you check how long it is before the end. I never get restless or look at the time with truly good movies.
Regarding Dakota Fanning, she was good in a child star sort of a way and she may very be the next Drew Barrymore but who can tell with one performance in a no money spared Spielberg epic.