Totally gripping

Rating: 9/10 (4 July 2005)

What a roller-coaster ride of a movie! Hoping for the best, but expecting the worst, I was relieved to be witnessing a number of totally enthralling moments in the cinema on Saturday.
Whoever tries writing this movie off as another Independence Day rip-off, obviously did not allow themselves to enjoy this movie before they saw it. With a distinctly personal storyline, and no ounce of patriotism anywhere, 'War of the Worlds' is a disaster movie like no other.
Steven Spielberg and Cast deliver a movie which engrosses you right until the somewhat 'Hollywoodised' ending. I can tell you now, that I was genuinely quite scared at two points in the movie and I could feel for the characters when the terror became too much for them.
Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning were brilliant in their roles. I know many people accuse Cruise for not being able to act, but surely, if you can sympathise with his character Ray and find him believable, then how can he be a 'bad' actor.
The effects were of course out-of-this-world, but as you can tell my review is focusing on the characters, as that is what makes this movie so different from the other disaster movies you might have seen.
Now, the ending Having already read many reviews for 'War of the Worlds' last week before I saw the movie, I was fully aware that I should beware of the ending. I can honestly say that during the movie I was aware of the shift from 'stylised terror' to 'Hollywoodised conclusion' 15 minutes before the end. However, it was not as bad as I was expecting. If you haven't seen the film yet, don't let the ending put you off from seeing it. It isn't unnecessary, but admittedly, it could have been rendered better.