Too Much Cruise not enough Martians

Rating: 8/10 (29 June 2005)

My favorite Sci-fi movie as a kid was "War of the Worlds" by George Pal. I have seen that movie at least 25 times so I was curious how this one would be. I liked the effects in this movie. The Martian war machines were great! They looked scary, menacing and most importantly, REAL. However we did not see them enough and Cruise to much.
This version is a little ridiculous. First of all how the Martians came to earth. This was changed from the Pal film in 1953. In that version they came in cylinders and fell like meteors that left craters and then climbed out of the hole. In this version they came to earth centuries ago to bury their machines when we were not here, leave, then return centuries later. They arrive in beams of lighting and activate their machines to capture the earth and destroy us. why didn't they stay when no one was here the first time? Second, no mention of using nuclear weapons against the Martians like in the 1953 film.
There were flaws like the video camera working when the first tripod comes out and when what looks like the biggest plane ever built crashes near Ray's ex-wife's house and they survive the explosion just by closing a door. That's Hollywood using it's dramatic license for you.
The effects were great but as a story, I still like the 1953 film better.