Frightening Film by Cruise and Spielberg

Rating: 9/10 (29 June 2005)

*****Spoilers Abound *******
Before viewing this movie, I expected what probably everyone expected: massive city destruction and loss of life ID4 style, but I was prepared to enjoy that. Instead, the loss of life in this picture is so heart wrenching and frightening that it would seem as if Spielberg knew how to pull just the right cords in the human heart to evoke fear and sympathy.
War of the Worlds starts off relatively cheesy, then turns humorously realistic. Tom Cruise plays a neglectful father whose kids are put into his custody for the weekend. At first, it would seem as if his two kids are just spoiled brats who only want to resist their father's attempts at bonding, but it soon becomes apparent that Tom has little concern for their feelings and soon becomes irritated at their presence. Quick news headlines show weird happenings in the Ukraine, but as in all disaster movies, are ignored by the protagonists until it is too late. After a somewhat funny game of catch, weird lightening strikes in town signal strange happenings. Good father Tom leaves his daughter at home to find his son who ran off, and it soon becomes apparent that the lightening struck only one spot twenty-some times, and in effect rendered all electronic appliances useless. That's when the ground begins to quake, cracking houses and roads. Soon, a huge mob circles the now huge lightening crater, and something massive arises from the wreckage...
What surprised me about the film is that the aliens don't simply blow up the major cities as in ID4, but instead, they take down the measly humans one at a time. Any fans of the original should know what I'm talking about, as huge ray guns completely vaporize the humans, leaving only clothes and memories. Soon, Tommy and Co. are on the run from the alien baddies, in the only working car on Earth it seems.
The film also has a unique tone, as the events taking place are treated so seriously, that the fact that crying and fleeing humans being destroyed by ray guns are not funny or campy, but emotionally wrenching and horrifying. As with many other aspects, the imagery of the film is definitely not for young ones, and may be the only film that truly earns the rating of PG-13 as it was intended: not recommended for children under the age of 13. Some scenes would have probably really got to me as a younger kid, and some of the situations Tom and family get into are so disturbing it is truly hard to back the aliens in this movie.
In short, Spielberg and Cruise scored a winner.