Visually engrossing, but falls short of great sci-fi.

Rating: 7/10 (2 July 2005)

Steven Spielberg once again displays an unparalleled ability to amaze through powerful imagery and action sequences. And while there are no doubts about the technical superiority of this film, other aspects leave you feeling a bit hollow. If taken strictly as a summer blockbuster, it definitely satisfies.
I was pleasantly surprised to see characteristics of a horror movie in addition to the expected man vs. alien battle for survival. However, the psychological terror that Spielberg attempts to evoke outside of the action scenes was at times ineffective. This gave the movie an uneven pace and disjointed feel.
One scene where a snake-like probe slithers through a basement in search of humans victims reminded me of a similar, but more effective scene in Jurassic Park where Velociraptors are quietly hunting their prey in a maze-like kitchen. What made that scene so great was that the viewer had never seen anything quite like those fantastically realistic dinosaurs. Conversely, these aliens and their machines of destruction, although well designed and true to Well's novel, are nothing that viewers haven't seen in other movies and subsequently doesn't evoke the same sense of wonder and awe.
This, coupled with the fact that the story unfolds strictly through the eyes of the protagonist and his two children, a heightened sense of horror could have been achieved if it had taken place in 1898, instead of 2005. It may have been far more terrifying to see these machines from the perspective of individuals from the 19th century, having never known or seen such sinister things.
Despite average acting and a few plot holes it's extremely entertaining thanks to a solid score (or lack thereof to heighten tension), inventive cinematography, and the aforementioned action sequences. In the end, however, I couldn't help feeling that the movie just hopped from one incredible action scene to the next, without much in between.