Painful, But Dull

Rating: 2/10 (27 November 2005)

War of the Worlds was, not counting the original novel, done three times: the radio broadcast, the 1953 film, and the current version. Both predecessors have fine moments, and this borrowed significantly from the 1953 film.
In the broadcast, and the first film, Professor Forrester (Pierson in the radio version) was the major character, and he was a thinking man. In this film, there was no professor, and little thought. Everyman facing an Alien Menace would just run away, and in this film, so he did. That didn't help the story much, and made what plot was left pretty minimal.
Some things were taken directly from the 1953 film. The alien TV camera on an extension from the spacecraft was in the 1953 film, and in this one, too -- even to the point of chopping it off with an axe. Yet since Everyman rather than the Brave Scientist was involved, he didn't get a clue about the aliens' weakness, or harvest the TV camera to study it.
Much of the really good stuff from the 1953 film, such as the futility of modern weaponry against the aliens was missing from the film, save inferentially. It was even clearer in the radio show. Sure, the Big Alien Tripods looked menacing, but they were basically seen at a distance.
When, in the 1953 film, looters stole the University's bus, that was more than an act of a mindless mob: it dashed the hopes of the scientists trying to fabricate a weapon. Here, someone in a mob just stole a car, putting our hero and his kids on foot.
If you want to see a good War of the Worlds film, try the 1953 version. At least it had a discernible plot.