Very cool, very slick, very underrated

Rating: 9/10 (9 May 2006)

People are way too hard on this movie! It's a thriller! And it's a good one! The movie is paced perfectly and never feels slow at a moment. Even during the set up for the first twenty minutes or so when we're introduced to the main characters we're given enough comic relief and interesting camera work to keep you in your seat, and then once all hell breaks loose it's a thrill ride for the rest of the movie.
I've heard people complain about the plot of this movie, but that's way too pompous. Maybe you won't walk away with a better out look on life but that's not what Spielberg was going for. If you've seen the trailers you know the plot, aliens come to earth and basically try to wipe us out. One comment I heard was that all it was one thrill after another with no real point, but that is the point. It's a survival story just like the book it was based on. The camera sticks on Tom Cruise and his family while they try desperately to stay alive during the carnage. It's not about a superhero, a brilliant scientist, or a team of marines trying to fight off aliens, it's about an average joe trying to stay alive. He doesn't have the means to fight back on his own, and if he did he'd lose that everyman quality and we wouldn't be able to relate to him the way we do. This is a movie about a war (whether it involves aliens or not) from a bystanders point of view.
Another complaint is comments about the ending. There have been two common complaints about it, I won't get into specifics because I don't wanna ruin it for anybody but I'll try and comment anyhow. There's been one complaint involving the aliens, some people didn't think there was enough of a climax. This aspect of the ending is taken right from H.G. Welles' book and it was used in the original movie as well. In fact when you take into account that the book was over a hundred years old, they actually did a pretty faithful job of adapting it to modern day. There's an irony about that ending that was always the main point of the story and actually makes more sense when you stop to think about it. The other complaint about the ending has to do with Cruise's family. I must admit this part is a little unrealistic but it's not nearly enough to ruin an otherwise awesome flick. Anyone who would reprimand an entire movie for something that minor has some deeper issues to work out.
The movie's fast, exciting and most importantly entertaining. That's all you need sometimes.