Aliens that can't shoot straight

Rating: 3/10 (2 November 2007)

A bunch of aliens show up one day and start shooting ray guns. That's the plot. Problem is, their targeting aim is so bad they wouldn't be able to hit water if they fell out of a boat. They just shoot anywhere and everywhere, and zap victims and stuff, mostly by accident.
Oh, and some knucklehead (Tom Cruise, even goofier than usual) and his two brat kids (Dakota Fanning who screams a lot and some cry baby guy with bug eyes) run around arguing and throwing temper tantrums. You keep hoping the aliens might silence the annoying family, the one thing that would make this whole botched affair worth viewing. There's lots of dazzling imagery attempting to impress; but no substance. It's just an array of disconnected vignettes without exposition, story, or purpose. Aliens shoot; people run, scream, get killed; repeat the process. Even the classic farmhouse encounter is bungled and becomes cartoonish.
Any other version is better: the book, the radio play, the 1953 movie. Anything but this; but, if you do decide to torture yourself with this debacle, look for the grenade scene, one of the stupidest and funniest things ever filmed.