Stick with the original

Rating: 6/10 (20 March 2010)

The War of the Worlds remake is pretty good, but not as good as I was hoping it would be. One of director Steven Spielberg's strongest traits as a director has been his incredibly well developed characters, especially the children in his films. What happened here? Actually none of the characters were appealing. It's probably not a good thing when you root for the alien's to win over the earthlings. I wanted them to suck up Dakota Fanning SOO BAD just to shut the brat's screaming. Tom Cruise's character of a deadbeat Dad was not exactly a character one would sympathize with, and his performance is very one dimensional. Technically it is terrific. The special effects are first rate, very imaginative and well filmed. Truly amazing in that regard. But as with so many modern remakes of classics, it's all razzle dazzle and so little substance. The original is more than 50 years older than this version, and it still remains the best version. Great special effects are very entertaining, but you need more than that. A film has to have a heart and soul, and not just wallow in a superficial mix of technical achievements.