Two hours of wasted lifetime

Rating: 1/10 (24 November 2005)

What to expect of a movie starring Tom Cruise and being directed by Steven Spielberg? I went to the cinema with no expectations at all.
Well maybe I expected at least some entertainment.
Even those expectations were disappointed. I spent two hours wondering what this film is about.
I know now what it is:
It's an absurd "roadmovie" of a divorced father taking care of his children over the weekend, traveling to the children's mother, while being attacked by nasty aliens.
Why the aliens attacked, now one knows, why nobody discovered huge metal spaceships/alien things in the earth, who knows.
Alright, you have to give H.G. Wells credit, that he couldn't know that metal detectors would have been invented by the time his book would be made into a movie. He probably didn't know that it would ever become a motion picture.
Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) could have hidden somewhere, it would not have made the movie any better or worse. The aliens would have died anyway and he wouldn't have to run away so much. It would not have made any difference.
Tom Cruise was acting his usual. Dakota Fanning was really rather hysterical. The only highlight was Tim Robbins, just because I didn't expect him to be in the movie.
Why did I just spend 2 hours watching this. I should have gone to the Gym instead. I would have given even less then 1 point in the movie vote would it be possible.
All in all two hours of completely wasted life time, a boring film with average actors in a truly not necessary movie.
The only positive thing is, I've got a new book to read, because I will read H.G. Wells "War of the worlds" to make some sense of this story.