Get A Life!!!

Rating: 9/10 (4 July 2005)

I cannot believe how much negativity there is out there for this film! OK - so there are some sizeable holes in the plot, there are some distinct changes to the story (naturally), there is Dakota Fanning's screaming and there is a sharp ending. So what? This movie takes the good decision to maintain the POV of Mr. Average Joe (Cruise) and his attempts to wrap his head around the fact that aliens are invading the Earth and everything he knows is exploding around him in big balls of fire. He is dazed and confused but recognises that his primary goal is the protection and survival of his children. This is a neat juxtaposition of the set up in which we learn that he is a crap father with little or no parenting skills whatsoever - in fact he is selfish and frankly a bit of a loser.
SS sticks with Cruise's POV and doesn't get lost in the need to have lots of war room scenes and failed fighter / tank / nuclear bomb attacks on the invading tri-pods / mother ships etc. I liked that fact that all we know as the audience is what we could realistically expect the central characters to know. Therefore, we don't know why the aliens are here - they just are and they're ripping the joint up! As far as the children are concerned. I'll admit that I wanted to punch out the son's lights a few times but hey, he's a teenage boy with raging hormones and a real chip on his shoulder about his ineffectual father. As for Dakota Fanning, well, all the whinging geeks out there who have decried her panicking and screaming clearly have no idea what it is like to have young children, especially frightened or hysterical young children. I do. I have two daughters who, when they were younger, could cry up a storm when they needed to.
This film has some startling special effects, especially in the sound department - which I haven't seen mentioned. The CGI is effortless and seamless. The Tripods are frightening and awesome. I do have a gripe about the aliens - they are stunningly like ID4's aliens which I found odd. But, hey, there is nothing to say that two people cannot have the same vision of what aliens may look like.
There are the appropriate nods in the direction of both the book and the original film but I think the updating works well and should be applauded. The acting is excellent - both from the POV of the bewildered and sometimes ineffectual Cruise character, to the kids, to the general despair of those periphery characters we meet along the way.
If I have one reservation, it is the final scene of reunion between the mother and children. I think she should of had a couple of sooty smudges on her cheeks and perhaps a small rip in her blouse (I have deducted a point appropriately). Other than that... a cracking popcorn munching blockbuster!