A great "human" sci-fi movie.

Rating: 7/10 (28 April 2008)

Apparently almost every reviewer seems compelled to compare the movie they are commenting on, to previous films/books they are based on, instead of giving a clear objective on the film at hand.
Steven Spielberg's "War Of The Worlds" does a great job showing one man's struggle against what is happening around him while trying to keep his two kids safe.
The "burning train" scene, is flawless in setting up what this movie is about. You don't get to see how the world's armies are battling it out with the tripods, as you would expect from a Hollywood production, with lots of fancy CGI on screen, instead, Tom Cruise's character (an average Joe) handle's most situations as a normal human being would. Every reaction is believable, and something most of the audience can relate to.
The cinematography itself manages to set a certain hopeless feel to it, the soundtrack is barely noticeable (and that's good), the acting is good, mainly Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning's character can be very annoying in the film, but then again, her reactions seem to fit in well as to how a child her age would deal with things.
All in all, a very enjoyable sci-fi movie. Not my favorite genre, but when a movie is well done like this one, that doesn't matter now does it.
Fully recommend this one as a must see to everyone with at least a slight interest in sci-fi / apocalyptic movies. Just don't expect a war movie. (As the title suggests)