Excellent and horrific introduction of invaders, but never reaches that plateau again...

Rating: 7/10 (6 July 2005)

Horrific, shocking, and edge-of-your-seat movie-watching is what I remember about this film. Great build-up to the introduction to the alien invaders, but the terror doesn't ever regain it's heights from there. I would have given the movie a 9 out of 10 if it had done so...maybe even a 10, because I haven't been that scared in a movie for quite some time.
I expected much more panic from the crowds of humanity later in the movie. We do see a glimpse of this panic when Ray's family arrive at the first town, but afterward there is very little confusion/wide-eyed panic that would cause hundreds of deaths in a real-world situation. The first "invader" scene is awesome, but the crowd reaction in the following scenes weren't as believable to me.
The alien machines were quite fantastic and the sound effects were brilliant. The "war call" of the machines were down-right chilling. I only had one problem with the alien machines and that was when they showed the human captives and how they were freed. I suppose I'm nit-picking, but I didn't need to see vulnerable aliens. It diminished my terror-filled experience. When I go to see an alien-invasion flick, I want to be terrified. As the movie went along, I went from terrified to interested. Yeah, I'm hardcore.
Top notch visual and sound effects. Not much more to say about that. I had read quite a few reviews of this movie and wondered what I was going to see. I have read the book and seen the original and pretty much knew what was going to happen and how it was going to end. I don't understand how some people are disappointed in the ending of this movie. Either, 1) they have never heard/read the original or, 2) expected Spielberg to put his own twist on the end of this Sci-Fi classic. I liked the end quite a bit and it was true to the original ending. Kudos for Spielberg for keeping with the original material. He can always try out his "twist" for the DVD edition.
I plan to see this again when it's out on DVD. I don't know whether I'll buy it or not, because I'm very critical of my movie collection. I'll have to decide once I watch WOTW on my set-up. I would recommend that people see this movie in the theater for the effects and in-your-face factor. But, I would also recommend that they do some homework on the original and not expect an "Independence Day" type of movie (which I hated) where the hero doesn't punch an alien in the face and deliver a line like "Welcome to earth!"