Asside from a few plot holes, War of the Worlds is a good film.

Rating: 7/10 (29 June 2005)

Warning !!! Spoilers quickly approaching...
The original "The War of the Worlds", has always been on my list of my top favorite films. As a kid, I remember seeing it for the first time (on television---I'm old, but not that old!), and remember how intense some of the scenes were. Not much is different in how Filmmakers of "Today", build-up the suspense level a given scene, as was accomplished by filmmakers 50 years ago. Filmmakers attribute this type of thing to good "Pacing" of the events in a film. Like the original, the new "War of the Worlds" installs a great amount of this "Pacing", but even more, it does so through the majority of it's scenes.
SPOILERS!!!
Spielberg manages to accomplish what so many filmmakers fail to do in remaking films of the past. Rather than retell the story, Mr. Spielberg does what he does best, which is "Invent" the story, or in this case, "Re-invent" the story. Part of what makes this movie worth the time and money to see it (not to mention the months and months of anticipating it), is that, much like every film with the Spielberg signature, is done BIG. Big Budget, big stars, big scenes, big visual effects, (did I mention, big sound effects?), most certainly is the formula for a "Big" film that is certain to bring in "Big numbers".
If you are a "Die Hard" fan of the original, you most likely will approve. But be aware that this one, and the original, differ in many ways, and not simply in a "aestetic" difference, either. I liked the idea of the alien "war machines", being planted in the ground, rather than showing up in the skies. This idea shouts originality by observing the mere fact that for years we've looked to the skies above for such an arrival, yet "they" were right under our feet the entire time. The lightening strikes, and having the aliens being transported to the giant war machines, was interesting. Being on the far side of far-fetched, it was a very unique idea, so much that it works, and works well. I also liked the idea of these giant machines, the "Tripods", walking about, instead of the classic hover above the ground effect. They're huge monster looking things, yet take on a sort of personality all to themselves. One of my favorite things, is the sound the Tripods make. It's almost impossible to describe, other than it elevates the terror the audience feels while listening to it, and watching the characters scramble around, countless ones being cut into pieces by the huge beams emitting from these machines.
Like the original, the scene in the cellar is there, and it's very intense. It seemed a bit longer than the in the original, but then again, the length is because of some originality to it. Tom Cruise of course does an excellent job playing a divorced father who cannot connect with his kids, yet despite his inability to be close with his kids, manages to shift gears into the survival mode for his family, and get the hell out of Dodge. But where? Where do you go, when you have these huge three legged tripod things, cutting and torching everything in their path---and worse, more keep showing up? Where do you go when there is rapidly becoming no safe place to go?
Errors in Continuity, plot holes and the like, include (but not limited to), all power, electronic devices, battery operated devices, and cars going dead -- yet one guy video camera that works, is seen videotaping during the scene when the first tripod we see cutting thru people.
A news van, with all the ENG/EFP equipment inside powered up and working like a charm, yet virtually everything else in the surrounding area is dead. This is the scene where we find out that the aliens "ride" the lightning down in capsules.
Those are only two of several. But hey, it's still very good fun!
Be aware that this film does have more than a fair share of scenes that many would see an inappropriate for small children. Such things as people being cut into pieces in a millisecond, burned into ash, and frightening scenes of terror, would most likely leave certain little ones scarred. Sure they'd get over it, but it's enough that just leaving the light on at bedtime, wouldn't fix such a thing.
1 out of 10, I give this one a 7.
Favorite quote of the movie - Ray (Tom Cruise) to Military guy - "What happened to it?" Military guy to Ray (Tom Cruise) - "About a half hour it started behaving erratically... started walking around in a circle about a then it just fell over."