Family crisis occurring with end-of-the-world thrown in

Rating: 1/10 (27 November 2005)

Where was the sci-fi story in this movie? Just tacked on to a story about a father making it up to his kids, and doing a pretty poor job of it at that. Having seen the 1953 version and been genuinely scared by it, I was greatly disappointed in this version that was an overly hyped epic supporting the stardom of one Tom Cruise. Some specific observations: - Cruise is a crane operator. Was this just incidental? Why didn't he operate something crane-like to combat these invaders? - Shields were mentioned but never demonstrated. - Even the climatic battle is never actually shown, only the burning vehicles rolling down a hill. - What was the connection of the aliens to the blood-vessel red vines? - Not much is ever explained, merely hinted at. - Much too much Cruise (and way too much of his whining daughter!), not nearly enough sci-fi. News reporters telling Cruise, basically you ain't seen nothing' yet ON A TV SCREEN!! I've experienced radio dramas that did a better job of drawing me into the action. Sorry, but this just did not work on so many levels.