War of the Worlds could be described as a mix of The Day After Tomorrow, Signs, plus some good acting and a little originality.

Rating: 9/10 (29 June 2005)

War of the Worlds could be described as a mix of The Day After Tomorrow, Signs, plus some good acting and a little originality. The first forty minutes or so are very dark and scary as 'they' slowly show their presence on earth. We see clearly each member of the family's reactions to this invasion: Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) tries to act cool for his kids, especially Rachel (Dakota Fanning) but still panics as he tries to keep both himself and his kids alive; Robbie (Justin Chatwin) wants Ray to tell him what's going on, he wants to fight it and protect little sister; and Rachel is frightened as no one tells her what is happening. After this extremely tense opening, the rest of the movie is mainly just the three trying to survive. Although not as intense as the opening, this does provide some eyes-shut, ears-blocked moments as the Ferriers slowly realise what is happening, and what it means for them: in order to survive, they are going to have to sacrifice others. In some ways this film is reminiscent of Nazi Germany - homeless thousands (and perhaps millions, although not shown in the film) wandering across the country, looking for a non-existent sanctuary, the race for survival, and the chilling feeling of having nowhere to run, of being cornered by an all-powerful enemy. It definitely gets under your skin. The acting is strong: Cruise, Chatwin and Fanning are all good, and although Cruise is in almost every scene of the movie, his character is not over-developed in comparison to the other two. For example, in one scene Rachel is sitting with a blindfold, singing a nursery rhyme while in another room Ray is killing a man. Instead of seeing the act itself, we see the situation from Rachel's point of view and it is infinitely more effective. There are some weaknesses: somehow a camcorder survives in working order (towards the beginning of the film) as even Ray's watch stops working, the ending of the film is rather abrupt (although thanks to HG Wells, this isn't a typical macho alien-fighting ending) and how exactly did Robbie survive that explosion? With great special effects, a token soundtrack and some good acting, with the addition of some truly edgy scenes this film deserves nine out of ten.