Surprisingly enjoyable

Rating: 8/10 (4 July 2005)

I went into this film, like many, a sceptic. I was still having bad feelings at the start when Ray (Cruise) is walking around with a gawky smirk on his face. However, once the movie gets going, which is very early on, I discovered that for the most part, all of the actors were very good, with the exception being Robbie (Chatwin) who was wooden basically all the time.
The special effects were, to put it simply, brilliant. The tripods were done very well and looked very similar to what I had envisioned from the novel. The aliens also, were well done, sometimes scary and sometimes cute, for want of a better word.
What I did think was missing from this film was the famous pit scene but still, what they did instead was great.
My main concern was not to do with the film but the classification. In Scotland, this is a 12A which means than under twelves can see it as long as they have a parent with them. I think that very few children would truly be able to cope with it as there were times when I myself was feeling queasy.
That aside, this is very worth while seeing.