Much better than most would lead you to believe

Rating: 8/10 (20 June 2013)

Like some others on here, I'm not sure why this movie is so disliked by many and out-and-out hated by others. Is it perfect? No, it is not. Is it terrible? No, it is not. Is it hated because of Tom Cruise? I think that is closer to the point and the Cruise-haters have piled-on to pound this movie's rating into the ground. But that's just my humble opinion from what I read in the reviews and messages about this film.
First off, I'm not a Cruise-lover. He does some good work and some bad work like any actor. And occasionally like some actors, he does great work. This role is an excellent one for Cruise and he carries it quite well as do his co-stars (his character's children) Dakota Fanning and Justin Chatwin. Ray Ferrier, Cruise's character, is a divorced father absent and out of touch and yet doesn't quite know why his son is hostile and distant seeming to think his de facto position as biological father should set him at the top of the familial pyramid. However, it doesn't, of course, and the scene where Ray assumes playing catch with Robbie his son will put a band-aid on the situation opens the father-son wound wide as a chasm ... it mixes like Yankees and Red Sox fans. This scene gives you all you need to know about the animosity that has grown and is still growing between the two. Looking at the two in this scene gives you the impression that the wound will never mend.
Rachel, Ray's daughter, is hanging on as any 'daddy's girl' will. However, you can see her grasp is starting to slip despite the grim effort she puts forth. She tries to explain to her father how he can get through to his son but 'father knows best' and doesn't listen. The gap between them is somewhat frightening when Ray is fixing peanut butter sandwiches for them she says she's allergic to peanut butter. He laughs and asks 'since when?' 'Birth' is her succinct reply. A dangerous gap in parental knowledge. Later, after a horrific 'death march' through the cold and rain and what-have-you, Rachel wants just a bit of comfort asking him to sing 'Hushabye Mountain' like her mother does. Ray doesn't know the song. Rachel sighs with a pitiable resignation and turns away a bit, closing her eyes, a little girl deeply disappointed from the man she holds in the highest esteem. Ray thinks for a moment and then starts in with a tear-choked version of 'Little Deuce Coupe'. She looks up with her big sad eyes still disappointed as her father looks down desperately seeking what she is seeking in him ... neither has what the other needs. A truly heartbreaking scene and one without any of the typical Hollywood plastic sentiment.
Perhaps the scene that gives us a full accounting of Ray's lack of parental influence is when neither child is listening to his instructions and he impotently and sullenly says 'Okay, I'm writing down every time you don't listen and ... and I'm telling your mother.' The last words of a desperate man indeed.
The pain and trials this little family triangle goes through is just as painful as the trial the entire world is engaged in around them. This is what makes this more than just another 'let's trash the world' sci-fi cgi-monster-fest that Hollywood puts out by the dozen it seems every summer (and I suppose we can thank Steven Spielberg indirectly for that for directing a little movie about a monster shark many, many summers ago). And like 'Jaws', there is more to this movie than just tripods zapping everything that moves.
Yes, as many have pointed out, there are some plot-holes, a few gaps here and there and so forth but it doesn't ruin the movie as sometimes these things will. The 'texture' of the movie is interesting as it is given something of a color-sepia-tone look that adds to the distress depicted.
Overall, this is a taut and exciting film most in the family will enjoy and for those of us who remember the original WotW from the 1950s, it is a big step up in suspense and of course special effects (though the 1953 version was cutting edge for its time), giving the viewer more than their money's worth.