Visually brilliant - plot leaks below the waterline

Rating: 8/10 (22 July 2005)

I gave this a score of 8, after struggling intellectually with what to award. In the end, I went with my intuitive reaction immediately on leaving the screening.
As usual coming late to the IMDb comments party, I also struggled to reconcile the (often hugely amusing or entertaining) vitriol, in some IMDb member comments, with the lavish praise in others. I think I may have an answer, which is that Spielberg's always titanic talent for integrating the visuals of a scene with the emotions of the characters has not deserted him, but his screenwriters did. Either his eye was off the ball and he did not catch this, or he never takes that much notice anyway, and was simply unlucky this time. Depending whether you react to the visuals and absorb the emotion, or analyse the actions and take against the movie, is really down to your temperament. Agreed, the first half was much superior to the second.
As I say, I enjoyed it, was in the react-to-the-visuals category, and found the overall portrayal, of humanity desperate in the face of overwhelming force, gripping and convincing. I felt this aspect was true to Wells' intentions in his novel. (Analogy with the British Empire and its machine guns against African natives - didn't actually see anyone else mention that). I thought the 9/11 and Iraq references were fair enough, if a bit obvious.
On the "continuity lapses" I will restrict my comments to: (1) EMP could be an erratic effect depending on the shielding of any given device, including the notorious camcorders, at the time of the pulse, but (2) yes this does make it implausible that every single car in New Jersey was rendered inoperable, and (3) be careful before criticising, because some of the implausibilities go right back to Wells, who, like Spielberg, knew he was authoring intelligent entertainment not a thesis.
As for the super smart Martians not figuring out the danger from earth microbes, this is as implausible as the US not realizing that leaving the Iraqi army unemployed would cause trouble after the invasion. I think Wells felt this was plausible because there were fewer bugs in the thin atmosphere of Mars, maybe. True enough, the buried tripods make it a tougher point to "explain". However, there are always reasonable explanations for so called illogical aspects like this, but an expert craftsman, like Wells or Spielberg, does not get hung up on presenting a dissertation about them.
The acting is a matter of taste. For what it's worth, I felt Fanning was a bit too mannered, and Cruise workmanlike, but let's not exaggerate his talent. beyond saying he works creditably hard by A-list star standards, and delivers an often enjoyable degree of characterization beyond his own persona.