Tom's son was the true hero

Rating: 5/10 (14 July 2005)

The old film followed the usual 50's sci-fi conventions of trying to figure out the invaders' weakness and develop an appropriate weapon. The twist was that humans could not do that, and that ultimately the aliens were stopped by a providential Creator. The ending addressed the problem.
In Spielberg's film, the bulk of the story is an incredible journey survival story. The protagonist's goal is to reach Boston, not to stop the aliens. Well, Tom and family actually reach Boston--mission accomplished! Oh, and by the way, the aliens die--almost coincidentally. "Welcome to Boston. And you might want to avoid that falling alien on your way to grandma's." There's a moderately entertaining bit in the middle with Tim Robbins and aliens and a game of hide-and-seek. But that has nothing to do with very much. Tom's son turns up in Boston for the reunion at the end. We don't know how, because we weren't shown his story. But I can bet it was a lot more interesting that the story we were shown in this film--because Tom's son wanted to stop the aliens and separated from Tom just for that reason.
The initial huge and realistic devastation of a city was extremely depressing in light of the experience of recent years, and showing that our nation was impotent to deal with the problem was even more depressing. The ending where the aliens die from a common cold did nothing to relieve the depression. Maybe Tom's son was the real hero of the film--maybe he coughed on them, or popped a zit in their direction.