Great effects, no plot, glaring logical errors

Rating: 5/10 (5 July 2005)

War of the Worlds just might be the most disappointing movie Spielberg has ever released. There is a lot of good material here, mostly due to Spielberg's undeniable skill and the phenomenal special effects. However, the story is illogical and poorly thought out. I would say there are plot holes, but you need to have a plot first in order for there to be a hole in it. Maybe that was Spielberg's strategy - wow them with special effects to cover up for the lack of a coherent plot or character development. Reminds me of Michael Bay or Roland Emmerich, to be honest. This movie was just as flashy and pointless as Bad Boys II or Godzilla, without the feel good payoff.
There simply is no plot, and only bare bones character development, all at the beginning of the film. Basically, Cruise and family try and escape from aliens who are killing everyone. Then the movie ends. I couldn't believe it. Why even have a script? This should have been a silent movie, except for the dreaded horn that the tripods blow before they start slayin'.
For people looking for logical errors, I submit to you the following: (i) the camcorder that works after all electrical and mechanical devices have been knocked out, simply because Spielberg thought it created a nifty shot, (ii) the idea that Cruise could drive New Jersey's last automobile for miles on roads full of stopped cars, (iii) a plane crashing on top of a house that Cruise is hiding in - it manages to destroy an entire neighborhood, but not his car, (iv) the entire concept of tripods being hidden for a million years about 10 feet below a city street, and (v) if the aliens are powerful enough to ride lightning bolts and create unstoppable killing machines a million years ago, how come that couldn't pack some Sudafed or control the tripods from space?
One big question for someone out there - what was the deal with the birds? Near the end, Cruise is shouting something about birds, but his voice is covered up by noise, and the soldiers respond with some shouting that was unintelligible. Maybe they had the bird flu. Who knows. The screenwriter sure doesn't.