Alien invaders attack in hopes of possessing Earth.

Rating: 9/10 (30 June 2005)

Blockbuster. Steven Spielberg directs every day man Tom Cruise in a reasonably entertaining version of the 1898 novel by H.G. Wells. Cruise plays Ray Ferrier, a working stiff stuck with the rep of being a deadbeat dad. His son Robbie(Justin Chatwin)has little respect for him. While his daughter Rachel(Dakota Fanning)is loving and protective. The kids are spending the weekend with dad and a horrific storm ushers in extraterrestrials, who rampage the country side and give the impression the tripod machines with intensive death-rays are ready to take command of Earth. Ferrier, scared and stressed to the hilt already, gathers his children to try and outrun the invading machines. Lightning hitting the ground unearths more and more machines and their death-rays evaporate humans on contact. Apocalyptic with no hint of reprieve, the terror rages on. Then almost as fast as the aliens appeared...they begin to fall and die. Ferrier manages to get the kids back to their mother(Miranda Otto)and takes on deserving hero statues.
Cruise turns in possibly his best performance. Fanning has talents much ahead of her age. She is an excellent little actress and seems to get better each outing. Also in the cast: Tim Robbins, David Alan Basche and Yul Vazquez. WAR of the WORLDS is intense, scary and nerve wrecking; tremendous special effects. Fantasy butts heads with reality. Not just a good Sci-Fi movie, but a damn good Sci-Fi movie.