A big blundering mechanical mess

Rating: 4/10 (13 July 2006)

Here we have a well-milked premise of a dysfunctional family disguised as a sci-fi adventure. So there are two struggles - one father's (Tom Cruise) struggle to reconnect with his kids, and one struggle to escape the alien invasion that is simultaneously taking place.
Because War of the Worlds is a first person narrative, from Cruise's character's perspective, we do not find out a whole lot about what is actually happening outside of his own personal struggles. That is a clever device because then the film never needs to explain what leads to the course of events (like aliens coming down his basement) or WHY ALIENS SUDDENLY INVADE THE EARTH at all. After all, Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) does not know, so why should we? I found this device mostly frustrating because I wanted more knowledge of what was going on and why it was happening.
Although the narrow perspective through which things were seen did sometimes work to the film's advantage. Some sequences were extremely intense and absorbing, like the basement sequence. The good aspects end there however, because War of the Worlds is a not a good movie. Very little of the content is actually believable and all (I mean ALL) Hallmark family clichés are present at one point or another
The worst part is the stupid cop-out at the end, as narrated by Morgon Freeman. Basically, what destroyed the alien invaders were tiny earth-borne microorganisms that we humans had suffered for millions of years, i.e. evolved into being resistant to. Sure, I'll buy that. Then, in practically the same sentence, Freeman says "the microorganisms that God put upon this earth..." Really, huh? God did that? What's it gonna be, Spielberg? Evolution or Creationism? You just contradicted yourself. It was just such a transparent cop-out to satisfy both scientists and believers. It really bothered me for some reason.
This whole film really bothered me, to be honest. It is not subtle or intelligent, but a big clunky mechanical mess with no good ideas or remotely interesting approaches to save it. 4/10.