Spielberg Strikes Out Again

Rating: 1/10 (30 June 2005)

There are two major flaws in this film. The first of which is the inconsistency of the story. Through numerous occasions it seems Spielberg was not paying attention to what he was doing. During the first attack, when the electrical devices were disabled, people were filming the events. In the same sequence people were shown being disintegrated by the alien death ray, yet their clothes where intact. Another example of this would be the scene at the ferry. None of the cars were operational, yet the boat still worked. There are many other occurrences such as these through out the movie.
Despite these inconsistencies the movie was mildly entertaining. The overall story behind the movie is a good one. Tom cruise played his part well. And Dakota Fanning is a tremendous young actress, adding much to the film. What made the film unbearable awful was what I consider the second major flaw.
This second major flaw is the ending. This has to be one of the most cheesy and, just plain bad endings I have ever seen. Does Spielberg actually expect the public to believe that some how Rob Ferrier can somehow survive the massive inferno that killed everyone else, and then make it to Boston?
Along with the above mentioned flawed there were minor things with the movie that simply annoyed me. Many special effects throughout the movie, while they were visually superb seemed just too, fake for my taste. Especially in the first action sequence, a brick church was being destroyed. The seismic activity split the church into but the BRICK building did not crumble. Another scene that annoyed me was when Tom Cruise was in the basement with Tim Robbins. Are we to believe that aliens with such a massive technological knowledge would be fooled by a couple drunks running around? This movie was a disappointment to me. I am a fan of both the original movie, and the book. Despite a few humorous moments, and a good overall story line, Spielberg's growing incompetence destroyed this movie. Also this film insulted the quality of the original film and the book.