What a stupid movie. It is half good until Tim Robbins shows up.......

Rating: 6/10 (3 July 2005)

.....then you are sitting there thinking......I wish they'd fast forward this....I wish the Squids would bag him and get it over with...nope, not soon enough, ya know? I think we've Seen this idiotic Raptors chasing the heroes in the cellar scenario More than enough, Steve, Okay?? Leave that one by the side of the freakin' road next time you have it run by ya in scripting sessions. Gag.
Up until then, it's pretty good-whole build up to the tripod bursting outta the ground in Bayonne, terror and destruction everywheres, Cruise on the run w/ his family, etc, heck even the ferry scene and the battle on the other side of the river, were all pretty decent.
I could do w/out the freaking forcefields that the squids had though, gimme a break. That's just plain old Lazy Writing, and it's been done to death. The whole business in the 'snack baskets' w/ Cruise, the grenades, etc--just two of them and the whole bloody Tripod goes Blooey, tells me Ebert is right-those things are just Tinker toys and not very tough ones at that.
What was it that the Natl Guard or whatever used to bring down that one in Boston--three RPG's or Bazookas or whatever? Good lord. That's like taking down an Abrams w/ a Roman Candle, you know? Hate to think what this alleged superior race would have done vs Nukes.....
As for the performances etc--Cruise was Cruise, nothing more or less. Fanning is Jodi Foster, less is more though. The rebellious son was a pain. You wince when you see him walk outta the house in Boston at the end--what?! how did he get away alive?? How did they get from NewBurgh or whatever to Boston w/out being nailed by the Squids? How did that part of Boston not get fricasseed? No nukes?! Tim Robbins was painful to watch. Good actor, but this part was Not meant for him. Steve Buscemi, Yes, that would have worked. The ET's playing w/ the Schwinn and what not went on far too long, they looked way too much like the greys in the X-files/ID4, and the whole 1953 TV camera/Boa constrictor probe thingie...that was a blatant tribute to the old Gene Berry flick, but c'mon. It was silly.
Nice to See Berry and Robinson at the end too, but--at least give them a line or two? Let Gene say to the camera, after seeing it mentioned on CNN--I've seen this before.....woulda worked.
The other holes-the van working, the jet crashing on their block, etc--that's okay if you just consider it B-movie terrain. I didn't mind that so much. But some of the other stuff....it's prob. Spielberg's stupidest big movie since Lost World, which I Looaaaaathed.
** for the Squids. That's it. Watch ID4 or Signs instead.