Perspective is key, but it does not help the plot. Still, if it's your genre, do watch!

Rating: 6/10 (4 May 2009)

Take a situation where a generally unpleasant bunch of extraterrestrials comes to earth to..., well, kill us all. Then consider how to make that into entertainment... again (I lost count on the remakes). There are generally two ways: Using the possibilities of such a plot and build the most outrageous (read exhilarating) action and special effects sequences, to give us the excitement of a roller-coaster ride (I am not a great fan of R. Emmerich's Independence day).
Spielberg chose the other option; try to give the audience an opportunity to empathize with the cast as they go through the horrors of a fictional holocaust. At least as long as you are able to empathize with the cast being scared by tripods mounted with halogen car lights. However, in this the movie does succeed greatly. Spielberg firmly stays with the characters perspective as they live through terrifying events, where the audience knows as little as the actors do as the alien invasion unfolds. And despite this Spielberg is still able to weave in some spectacular special effects, which is quite a feat.
The choice of perspective is a strong directors choice, where many directors (including frequently Spielberg himself lately) tend to forget their character or story to indulge in the temptations of CGI, taking us to watch the story from the perspective of, well god or something else omnipotent.
So far so good, but if the core of your movie's entertainment value is experiencing holocaust, how do you then build a plot which does not violate the core idea of the movie, but still lets the audience go home without too much heaviness. It seems as if the filmmakers completely forgot about the plot until they were halfway through making the movie. It's abrupt, hopelessly Spielberg-sentimental and breaks completely with the tone of the first two-thirds of the movie. Thus the movie completely falls apart in the last act, which is a shame really as it starts so strong.
Lastly I just can't help mentioning... You like Tom Cruise or you don't, and he is not a dreadful actor under the right direction (See Magnolia). But in this movie it is simply the same generic Cruise persona as in so many of his films. You sometimes wonder why they even bother giving the characters in his movies a name other than his own.