A film of two halves!

Rating: 6/10 (25 July 2005)

I will star by saying that i have not seen the original, heard the CD or read the book so i may be out of my depth commenting on this, on the other hand i can take an unbiased view. The previous Spielberg/Cruise picture Minority Report, while unsuccessful in the box office was a solid film with a good story and great effects. This one however was aimed at a much bigger audience, being based on such a famous novel. Basing films on famous books is a brave move and often it backfires as u have to pay more attention to detail to keep the fan boys happy, however i didn't know the story so went into this with an open mind trying not to be influenced by the critics.
The first hour of this film went really well, it sucked you in to the plight of Cruise and his Kids on there mission to get away from the awe inspiring Tripods, the effects were brilliant the acting solid and the pace of the film relentless, although there were a few mistakes involving EMP(you'll know what i mean if you watch it), i found myself getting involved with the film, Spielberg is a master at this. However the second half is not so good, packed with schmaltz galore and the pointlessness of Tim Robbins character, combined with a completely flat ending made the first half a waste of time building up to a massive disappointment.
Maybe instead of a remake, a film based around aliens invading the earth, with which war of the worlds was an obvious template and paying respects to the original would have sufficed.