You know it's a bad film when all you want is for the aliens to kill off one of the leading characters

Rating: 1/10 (16 March 2006)

In the film "Ed Wood", producer George Weiss admits he is not interested in making classy films, just cheap crap. Ed Wood tells him that he can get him a real star for one of his pictures to which George Weiss replies "So, you've got crap with a star".
The remake of "War of the Worlds" falls pretty much into this category, but as well as stars it has tens of millions of dollars worth of CGI effects.
Perhaps it is supposed to reflect the times with divorce rates going through the roof and one parent families mushrooming, but I am at a loss to see the relevance of this to the story. All I can say is that, in Tom Cruise's shoes, I certainly would have fought tooth and nail NOT to have custody of Dakota Fanning. Within a couple of minutes of her first opening her mouth, I was hoping against hope that this whining petulant brat would fall victim to the Martians' heat ray - and I mean Dakota Fanning, not the character she plays.
And when will film makers realise that, no matter how seamless the special effects, it's the story that counts? Only when suckers like me stop spending good money going to see their limp offerings, I suppose.
I saw the film at the cinema and was later given the DVD as a Christmas present. I haven't bothered to watch it yet. Life's too short.