Glad H.G. never lived to see this travesty of his great story

Rating: 2/10 (24 April 2010)

Aliens are delivered via lightning bolts to enormous buried tripod war machines (supposedly underground for millions of years, but never detected by any treasure hunters with their metal detectors). Massive EMP affects are supposed to have burned out all car starters, but delicate electronics like cell phones and camcorders still work. The tripods chase Working Class Hero Tom Cruise--and two of the most annoying pair of kids ever in a movie--in and out of various situations. Dakota Fanning screams a lot. Occasional loud booms in the Dolby Surround soundtrack to keep the audience awake. Eventually the aliens all catch colds and die.
The movie credits claim the story is based on H.G. Wells' sci-fi novel. Other then the "war machines" and the aliens dying of the plague, there is nothing in the movie of Wells' classic and original story. Which is OK, because if Wells' would have been alive today to see this travesty, he would have dis-associated himself from it.