A curious effort... big BIG spoilers

Rating: 6/10 (2 July 2005)

Like many, I have been looking forward to this film for a long time. I saw it with friends, and as soon as the film ended, one friend turned to me and said "I didn't like it", and began to catalog changes from the book and the movie. I pointed out that the story was updated, and you can't really hope to stay faithful to a book that was written 107 years ago.
My immediate opinion of the film was that the first half was good, but the second half faltered badly. In WotW, Spielberg is at at his best when capturing the panic of the whole situation. But when the panic gives way to paranoia, this is where the film caves in, undone largely by the tokenism of Ogilvy (a vague, pointless character), and by the lack of explanation of various things seen in the film. As someone who has never read the book, what the hell were the red weeds growing everywhere? And how could the tripods have been buried underground for so long? Surely mankind would have found AT LEAST one of them at some point. Or maybe not, minor gripe.
Of major concern for me - as I'm positive it will be for most people - was the ending. Not about the "defeat" of the Martians (if they are indeed from Mars) but the more "personal" ending of Ray and family. The closing reunion begs the question... How in the hell did Robbie survive??? He went running headlong into the fire thirty seconds before things went to hell. Big mistake, filmmakers.
For that matter, how did the rest of the family come out so well? Maybe that will be told in the sequel. Usually Spielberg's trademark optimism doesn't bother me the way it does most, but this ending was 2 points off for me. In many films - good ones - the Hero is faced with a decision, and the decision he makes defines his character. Ray made his decision, for better or worse, and that decision was to sacrifice his son to save his daughter. Great. But then his son survives anyway. So much for character-defining decisions. He had his cake and ate it too. It smacks of the decision Neo was forced to make in The Matrix Reloaded: "save your girl or save the world". He made his decision, but was still able to do both. Doesn't sit well with me.
Praise. The first half of the film, I have mentioned, is virtuosity. There is wonderful work by Janusz Kaminski, expertly executing Spielbergs direction on such shots as the opening shot coming in from a helicopter to a closeup of Ferrier (which might have been achieved with CGI) and a marvelous extended shot of Ferrier and kids driving down the freeway with the "camera car" having to move around cars and weave in and out to keep track of the dialog. Watching this, I turned to the guy next to me and said "how the heck did they do that?" My friend had no answer.
The music by John Williams was uncharacteristically unobtrusive, containing no memorable themes and musical moments. This suited the tone of the film perfectly.
The tripods look great too.
In summary, a great opening showing much potential is undone by a weak second half, terrible coda, and the sudden onset of the ending, with nary a climax to speak of.