A scientifically credible way of invading the Earth with an unlimited energy budget.

Rating: 9/10 (29 July 2005)

I feel compelled to engage a couple of issues raised by other viewers comments. The first is the Science - which I believe is mostly accurate. The other is how the US Army and (post 9/11) Joe Public are shown to cope with this extraordinary situation. I believe some critics were just a little bit too disturbed by the apparent "pro-American" perspective to see the true intention by Spielberg. This is the critics' fault for being politically biased - not the directors fault for targeting the American movie audience from their own perspective.
THE SCIENCE. Many viewers have slammed the science behind this film - but I found much of the science being treated with justice.
A common theory shared by characters in the film was that the tripods were hidden under ground for millennia before the alien pilots boarded them from orbit. I would argue, however, that the tripods protective shielding proved capable of withstanding extreme pressures and temperatures - enough to sustain geological parameters. So these things could have all entered the earth at weak location of the crust and migrated through the mantle to be married with their pilots from orbit. This need not involve waiting for a millennia as being able to swim through the mantle would expediate global coverage of their heavy weapons from a single entry point.
Bear in mind also, that lightning travels upwards! So the lightning phenomena could have been generated from the tripod upwards - not the other way round. With regards to the EMP effect - Ray Ferrier himself identifies that fault is in the electrical surges melting the coil windings together rendering the induced magnetic field impotent. Components with coils (transformers, electric motors, RF circuits, induction coils) would not function until the coils had been replaced. Batteries need not be affected.
Did anyone notice the maelstrom effect in water being the same as it was for solid earth? (Tripod attacking the refugee's boat and the initial surfacing before Ray Ferrier and the crowd.) As a reader of the Geologic sciences I would give this film extra credits for correctly observing the behaviour of materials through this corkscrew effect.
Yet in spite of this, the logic by the alien invaders given the technology they have still beggars belief - simply for the amount of energy dissipated by their methods. The geological approach is certainly an indication of the amount of energy the aliens have at their disposal - ASTRONOMICAL.
The only reason why the tripods needed to collect meat must only be to feed the pilots on board. The Red Earth effect really got to me - the aliens were seemingly trying to terraform the earth away from a Chlorophyll based carpet into a Haem based one. They used the blood from freshly gathered (human) meat to this effect. This strategy seemed to display a complete disregard for microbial life - which we already know loses them the war.
THE USA ARMY AND CIVILIANS. Apart from the microbes winning the war, I have to commend the US military in this story for successfully slowing down the tripods progress. The reunion at the end of the film clearly shows how much they saved.
I am sorry to announce for the benefit of US hating left wingers: that the US military is not comprised of gun-toting power junkies who are liable to cause massive collateral damage. What we see in this film are professional soldiers trained and disciplined to NATO standard - not the part-timer white trash from the Home Guard. So I was not surprised at the way the soldiers regarded the human tide around them as nothing more than terrain feature and got on with their job - in fact this was what I would have *expected* from them given their training.
As for the behaviour of the American public - I don't know if I'm the only one to suspect that Spielberg must have watched hours of video from the 9/11 atrocities in order to get it right. And IMHO he has got it right. (Apart from me, a small black dot on the horizon as soon as the ground begins to fracture owing to my respect for geological pressures) the tentative mood of the civilian public around the entrance of the tripod is relevant. It IS how we behave - Humans are always dangerously curious creatures in the absence of better information.
And for the first a couple of days of the war the American people are remarkably civil to each other. It is only after several days of starvation and terror before the Amercian people start behaving like a frenzied mob. I believe this is accurate and fair - only naive minds would imagine people turning into a greedy uncivilised frenzy at the drop of a hat - even in the absence of police and authority.
AND FINALLY.. All the credit goes to H.G.Wells, neither of the more modern names stole the show. We can rely upon Spielberg and Cruise - for their parts in the direction and acting performance - to be transparent enough for their movies to hit the spot. If anyone is still has doubts about some of the science then I hope my discourse above will be enough for consideration. But if anyone is still disillusioned about this being some 'pro-American' thing then you will need your head examined.