Surprisingly atmospheric

Rating: 5/10 (19 July 2005)

Now we might as well get this straight. I am no Spielberg fan and I am no Tom Cruise fan (particularly after his complete sense of humour failure in Leicester Square), so I went to the cinema with a rather heavy heart. I was prepared to regard it as a completely separate entity from the H. G. Wells book, the Orson Welles Mercury Theatre radio play and the George Pal movie, in short I was expecting pure action movie mayhem, with some Spielberg schmaltz.
To be honest I was not disappointed. The explosions and special effects, particularly the long shots where you see a lot of machines raining down death and destruction, were superb. When things weren't actually being vapourised I was impressed by the use of silences, storms and other tension-building devices, which certainly cranked up the tension enjoyably. The pace of the movie was pretty relentless, and despite the fact that I really needed the bathroom for the last half hour, there were no obvious let-ups in the action, so I had to sit and suffer. But after all of this action, the ending  from the book  was a bit of a let down. Although I should have seen it coming, the film just dribbled to a halt.
The Spielberg schmaltz was shoe-horned in with his usual subtlety by focusing on the trials undergone by one individual, flawed family. Cruise played Ray Ferrier, a rather immature stevedore who had previously chosen his Ford Mustang lifestyle over his family. But as luck would have it he was to look after them for the weekend when the aliens rocked into town. The strained relationships were well performed despite little being asked of the actors  although Dakota Fanning deserves her now customary praise for her performance as claustrophobic daughter Rachel. I am still not clear whether the characters stuck together because they were flesh and blood or purely because they were acquainted, but perhaps this was due to Ray's lack of interest in actually being a dad.
Despite the unpromising premise of Spielberg and Cruise stuffing up a classic story, I left the cinema entertained and pleasantly surprised.