An Insult to HG Wells

Rating: 3/10 (21 July 2005)

This film is a massive disappointment and an insult to HG Wells. Clichéd characters such as the divorced dad who's a jerk but turns out to be a hero in the end, clichéd action scenes such as Cruise and the grenade and a clichéd Hollywood ending. Cruise as usual just plays himself as that's all he's capable of and he's a mediocre to average actor at best and Dakota Fanning and Justin Chatwin are just plain annoying. The film has some good scenes such as when the tripod first appears and the tripods and special effects themselves are good as to be expected from ILM, but on the whole this film just smacks of a missed opportunity.
I'm usually a fan of John Williams scores but this one is nothing special at all and I also also thought the terrorism references were in very poor taste and the reasons for Spielberg and Koepp including them are very questionable.
Above all this film should have been set in Victorian England just like the book. That would have set it apart from all the other aliens invade the USA films.
Why also can't Spielberg work with proper actors for a change instead of big stars who can't act particularly well. Cruise who seems to be more interested in promoting himself instead of the film or War of the worlds, should have been the last choice for a film like this, which is supposedly based on a classic story and I really think Spielberg is way past his best.