The writer of the film says it all...

Rating: 2/10 (4 July 2005)

The only way I can talk about this movie from a source base, I have to use an interview that happened a while ago that pretty much answers all of the films problems. unfortunately, it doesn't fix them. You see, a website called www.ign.com interviewed David Koepp who wrote the screenplay for War of the Worlds. Here is his answer to the question, "Was the ending too abrupt?"
"Was the ending too abrupt? I don't think it is. It is exactly faithful to the book. I think if you look at it again, the ending is set up throughout; you know what their fate is going to be. But also, the ending of the story is really the ending of Ray Ferrier's story with his kids, not so much the ending of what became of the invasion. The invasion failed, but we weren't... we made a conscious choice from the beginning to make the story of the movie about the invasion from space. The plot follows this guy and his kids. And the conclusion of the plot is when it goes from being a father who would do nothing for his kids to a father who would do anything for his kids, including die. So, once that's done, that was our movie. And what becomes with the invasion is, we also felt like it's such a well-known piece of material, and we say from the very first shot of the movie it's going to be bacteria, just like you read in the book if you're paying attention. So that to us didn't seem like the kind of movie we were making. You know how Independence Day ends with the big fight scene and where they figure out the computer virus and they blow up the ship and all that. We just weren't interested in How Does Randy Quaid Defeat The Aliens. You know what I mean? It's more about how does Ray Ferrier reconcile himself with fatherhood. That was our story. We feel like that story was fully told."
So there you have it. It was a story about a father who is trying to reconcile with his kids. Wow. Kind of takes the fun out of the title doesn't it? War of the Worlds? More like "forget the Aliens, we want more family drama." Cause lets face it, you have to read the book in order to understand why it's so good, right? "Oh! It's faithful to the book." Really? That's the best defense this guy can come up with? I thought movies were supposed to be self- contained.
Oh, did you catch that part where he said that Tom would do nothing for his kids? When did that happen? It's more like his kids did nothing for their father, and in the end do everything with him, including stuff like MURDER!
To be fair, he did have this to day about those who will view the film negatively.
"If people are talking about it and some are upset I think it just sells more tickets."
Wow. So if you're going to be a screen writer, make a story that's grand in size, have a family with problems, give it to Spielberg, and he will do it! Cause he loves family issues, and hates the big picture!
"It's more about how does Ray Ferrier reconcile himself with fatherhood. That was our story."
So why did you call it War of the Worlds if it's not about a war of the worlds? Rip off!