The ultimate New Jersey joke punchline - Excellent popcorn fare; Cruise excels & Spielberg delivers the scary sci-fi goods

Rating: 10/10 (6 July 2005)

WAR OF THE WORLDS (2005) **** Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Justin Chatwin, Tim Robbins, Miranda Otto (cameos: Gene Barry & Ann Robinson) (Narrator: Morgan Freeman) Steven Spielberg's mega blockbuster adaptation of HG Wells' sci-fi classic that more-or-less launched the genre about an alien invasion hell-bent on exterminating the human race and re-inhabiting the planet for themselves by incorporating the plottings in present day New Jersey (!  insert obligatory New Jersey joke here) and focusing on deadbeat dad Cruise (who excels in his put-to-the-task histrionics) and his teenage son Chatwin and younger daughter Fanning bonding under the doomsday hysteria surrounding them at every turn in an attempt at survival amidst incredible odds. Hats off to the amazingly tense special effects by ILM particularly with the gigantic tri-pod metallic death-ray blasting machineries laying waste to all in their paths with jaw-dropping, eye-popping astounding results. Truly a hair-raising, goose-pimpling good time with some humor peppered in by the David Koepp & Josh Friedman screenplay that runs on all cylinders (including Spielbergian pap  c'mon it's a STEVEN SPIELBERG MOVIE!! ) that runs like gangbusters and offers some true crowd-pleasing thrills and chills (I haven't been this rattled since the first appearance of the T-Rex in "Jurassic Park" when the colossal monstrosities first make their unannounced awakenings). A popcorn film with heart and soul and a great film-going experience.