wonderful adaption but why

Rating: 8/10 (10 July 2005)

Brilliant adaption of H G Wells story of a martian invasion of Earth. Special effects superb, atmosphere and tension totally gripping and real. Spielberg follows the basic original H G Wells plot closely but adds in a modern working class divorced father who's looking after the kids while Mom and sensible, successful Tim (ex-wife's new hubby) go to Boston. Dakota Fanning is totally brilliant as daughter Rachel, playing the worldly wise woman-child though there is somewhat more predictability in the (rebellious) son and (heavy handed loser) father relationship between Tom Cruise and Justin Chatwin (Robbie).
One of Tom Cruise's finer performances, for once playing a "normal" human being with personality defects a-plenty, a blue collar existence as a crane driver in the docks, driving a hot Ford Mustang and only caring about no. 1 (apparently). Spielberg, setting up Tom as an immature anti-hero and avoiding the responsibilities of his estranged family, nonetheless by the end of the movie once again Tom turns in a fine heroic performance and makes the wife's new hubby seem boring and tame by comparison.
Only thing I don't get is why were the tripods buried "millions of years" ago? If this were true surely the martians had plenty of time to figure out the earthly bugs were going to get them and to spend the time getting acclimatised or otherwise fix the problem?
And usually when the aliens arrive to take over the world, they arrive in ships, land and do their stuff, not shimmy down streaks of lightning into millions of years old machines (how did they know they would still work? and if their technology was that good I'm sure they'd have figured out some bacterial filters etc)
This was a bizarre departure from H G Wells, and I didn't think it added anything to the story.
Overall though, a great movie, close to the original but updated for a present day US setting (the novel was set in England a century ago, of course you all know that!)