Better than I thought it would be

Rating: 7/10 (17 June 2006)

The bad word-of-mouth towards this movie kept me from watching it in the theater but I did check it out on DVD and found it better than expected. Not great, but still fun to watch.
The only beef I have with it, is the over-the-top ridiculous "happy end". Who cared about the boy anyway?! I didn't, and I sure did not need to see him again and the unharmed/clean look of the former in-laws coming out of the house like nothing happened made me chuckle and cringe at the same time. It somehow (almost) ruined the movie, but just almost. Same for the hysteric screams of the little girl, though I cut her some slack. The situation was frightening and she was just a kid, so she was bound to make noise.
Overall, I'd say that the story lacked consistence, the camera working for example got me sighing, not because it worked despite the crash-down in every electricity (they COULD have changed the battery just like they did with the car) but there is no excuse when it comes to the other physical FACT that a camera falling onto the street would break and given the power with which it crashed down, should have scattered to pieces!! They even said on the specials (DVD), they had it on strings because it would otherwise break. Well?! Hello, Mr. Spielberg - we are NOT stupid! That was a dumb "trick" to pull.
I can live with the car working (they did change the battery) while the people on the highway were stranded - (it's tough to find a mechanic with equipment on every street these days...) but I can NOT buy that the car, which was parked in front of the ex-wife's house, didn't get a scratch after a plane crashed down on them and destroyed the entire neighborhood EXCEPT for the car!! Yeah right.
The aliens themselves... were somehow cute, that was a problem because they were supposed to be frightening. Well, I couldn't get myself to gasp with shock while they looked at me with such big puppy eyes. Sorry, Steven: that one backfired. Though their machines were quite impressive. It would have made for a better suspense if they never showed us these big-eyed-"monsters". The "Tripods" first arrival was a great scene, but the flying clothes made me again chuckle a little.
I have nothing bad to say about the acting, I think all the actors nailed their characters to a tee: The deadbeat father Ray Ferrier, who still needs to grow up himself a little, being put in charge of his children with his ex-wife on a weekend where the world comes to an end and being forced to become the responsible parent for the first time, which had him struggle with the estrangement between him and the kids (especially with his son, who didn't take him all that serious to begin with) as well as with his own desperation and fear of not knowing what to do next, was captured and portrayed very believable by Cruise.
Same for the teen-aged son Robbie, who is so disappointed with his dad's lack of interest in him and his sister through all the past years, that he is now unwilling to accept his attempt to lead them into safety rather than fighting as anything other than simply being the "man who cowardly runs away" that he desperately tries to set himself apart from him by joining the forces against the outside attack, even against all odds of survival. Justin Chatwin did the best he could with this unlikable character who bitches more than he is helping the situation but it was still a convincing performance. I hated him for his stupidity and I guess that means "good job, I wanted you to die!"
Dakota Fanning (Rachel) really got on my nerves with her constant screaming, but she was instructed to do that, so hey... but I sure believed her to be frightened to death: So, nice work from the girl.
Overall I'd say it's an enjoyable movie with lots of action, humor (though often unintentionally) and good acting from all involved. The writing could have been better, though.