Don't bother, Spielberg's worst.......

Rating: 1/10 (2 July 2005)

OK, so everyone's a critic. I do not know exactly what was wrong with this film, but from the beginning it just didn't work. It could be just my expectations were to high. I was expecting Top Gun, Minority Report meets H.G. WELLS, a sort of Independence Day (a War of the Worlds copy-cat)....... What I got was a major let-down. The plot was very lack-luster Cruise and Fanning just drifted along no real plot line that I could find. Don't get me wrong the acting was first rate but the script and dialog, wouldn't even make it in a "B" movie. The special effects though well done are just not that believable (the alien tripods), although the "death-ray" was very cool.
Dakota Fanning seemed to spend a great deal of the movie screaming her head off (annoying), Cruise whispered a lot. In (many) parts, the film got so slow, that the audience I was in, got so very restless (board out of their sculls) you had a hard time hearing all the whispering.
It seemed to me the film was all about Cruise and not about the Martians. Their was far to little action, to little of the aliens and the difficulty in stopping them. In all the 1953 film "War of the Worlds" is far superior in every way even the special effect hold up even today, but the 50's "death ray" is a bit cheesy, but the ships/tripods are a lot cooler and more believable than Speilbergs version. I'm a fan of Steven's but this is the worst movie of his I've ever seen. He should have dusted off the 50's script, updated it a little, keep the characters, add Dakota, updated the effects, and you would have had great film.
Enough ranting to be fair (to the film) this is sort of an every-man's version, it is from the perspective of just an ordinary man caught up in all the chaos of an alien invasion. He clueless (obvious from the film) and is just struggling to survive. Its all about his struggle to keep himself and his kids alive, from that perspective I suppose the film works, but I wanted more, much more from a Spielberg film.... He has done many fine works (ET, Shindlers List, Close Encounters, And many more, so I'm disappointed)........... Beyond all doubt James Cameron or Ron Howard should have directed this one. I think they could have done what Steven couldn't this time, Do Justice to the story... And especially the audience.....