Spielberg shows he's still got it.

Rating: 9/10 (2 July 2005)

Steven Spielberg, the greatest film director currently working, re-teams with Tom Cruise, Hollywood's top gun, to adapt H.G. Wells' classic novel "War of the Worlds". Wells set his story at the turn of the 20th century, in the heyday of the British Empire, and modeled his story as a critique of British imperialism. In the world post-9/11, Spielberg and Cruise transfer their story to 21st century New Jersey.
Cruise plays Ray Ferrier, a blue-collar dock worker who is divorced from his wife (LOTR's Miranda Otto), and is a rather poor father to his two children, Rachel (Dakota Fanning) and Robbie (Justin Chatwin). The arrival of the alien tripod machines disrupts everything, and suddenly the three of them are running for their lives.
Spielberg movies are usually known for their kindness and amiability, but this film is brutal. The terrifying alien tripods incinerate humans by the hundreds, and mount a particularly graphic attack on a ferry boat (standing in for Wells' HMS Thunderchild). These aliens will never be mistaken for the jokey ET or the benevolent spacemen of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". "War of the Worlds" is one long chase scene, and Spielberg's range as a director is demonstrated clearly. I can't wait to see what he does with his film about the Israeli Mossad. I give WotW a 9/10.