Read the book - listen to the musical

Rating: 4/10 (14 July 2005)

Steven Spielberg essentially lied about this film - he said that he wasn't interested in telling the story correctly because it couldn't be made relevant or poignant. There's nothing in this movie, however, that demonstrates a reason why it had to take place today, other than Cruise stealing a mini-van. The budget wasted on building and then destroying city blocks of New Jersey could just as easily have been used to build and destroy Victorian London. All in all, "War of the Worlds" (no leading "The," apparently so people don't get confused and think it is H.G. Wells' story) is a thoroughly average film which requires an immense amount of credulity on its audience's part in order to accept many of the situations and their resolutions, not the least of which is how Tom Cruise can be so untouchable in the midst of wholesale destruction and decimation, an invulnerability which is apparently a genetic trait, passed on to his children.
Forgetting comparisons to the superior original material (and we should, since that's what the filmmakers did and would like us to do, as well), Spielberg has not done a very good job here of telling a contemporary tale, let alone a fanciful one, which the original is (okay, I just can't forget it ...). He clearly wants to make this "his" 9/11 film, but in doing so, he resorts to cliché after cliché, imagery which, while powerful 4 years ago, has now become trite by its abuse. Add to that the general implausibility of the aliens' presence ("Independence Day" was more believable!), and the entire story could have been told much more effectively by using a more Earthly opponent. "War of the Worlds" isn't an effective science fiction film, nor is it an especially effective social commentary, either, since it fails to deliver any sort of original message or even a fresh perspective upon familiar fears or expectations. Had it been executed as a period film, the allegory could probably have been much stronger, as well as the drama of the gap between the aliens' technology and that of Man; the contemporary setting makes the film more defeatist than the original story.
Not nearly as impacting nor as fresh as Jeff Wayne's rock musical from 3 decades ago - and that version actually stuck to the story pretty closely, as well.