Good effects, good ending, bad characters

Rating: 5/10 (11 March 2008)

Spielberg is a FILM-maker. First and foremost. When it comes to the technical side of things, and how that will affect the audience, he is better than just about everyone. With his "hiding camera", he forces the viewer into the shoes of his lead characters so that we know only as much as they do. That is extremely effective and jarring. Also effective is the fact that the alien's intentions are never explained... only shown. I can see why this would bug a lot of people, but I thought it worked.
What is not effective are the characters themselves. They are the classic "stock" characters that a writer pulls out when he has something else he wants to write and has just remembered that he needs some character moments to fill the hole. Dakota Fanning's claim to fame seems to be screaming her head off (even when this is very obviously going to get her killed; even a terrified child would have more sense than that). Really, though, who can blame her: Tom Cruise doesn't try to help her fend for herself even a little. He just shields her. In fact, in one scene, he literally blindfolds her to hide the horror. Responsible. And my GOD! His son is the most annoying piece of emo garbage I have ever seen in a character. Even when things are blowing up all around them, he's still trying to pick a fight with Daddy.
Now, the ending, while a lot of people didn't like it... sorry, guys. It's the original H. G. Wells ending. The whole point of this story is that people are not as in control as we like to think we are, and to have the aliens be taken down by military might would have meant that this would not be The War of the Worlds... it would be Independence Day. THE Americans DON'T ALWAYS GET TO WIN!! The sickness solution is natural, plausible, and would probably be the only way something as unstoppable as the aliens they're trying to portray, could be stopped.
Good movie, but not great.