Thumbs down

Rating: 1/10 (2 May 2006)

*warning! comment may contain minor spoilers!*
When me and my Father rented this film, we expected a visually impressive, compelling, thrill ride. While visually impressive, this adaption of HG Wells' classic novel more of a family drama then a Sci-Fi thrill ride.
Meet Ray Farrier. He is an average American citizen living in New Jersey. His wife just left him, and is leaving her two children, Rachel and Robbie, with Ray for the weekend. He assures her she's got nothing to worry about. Too bad aliens decided to attack Earth this weekend.Ray and his family must flee for their lives if they hope to survive the invasion.
I won't complain about the ending, because that's how the book ended. The special effects and Tripod design are above average. However, Dakota Fanning is the only good actor here, and all her character ever does is wail like a banshee. Tom Cruise does well until the aliens attack, and at that point, he appears to start thinking that seeing as how he has to share the screen with top-notch CGI, he can just start slacking off.
Now about the aliens themselves. Big design flaw there. They look like the monster from "Alien" with big eyes and green skin. In other words, you wouldn't expect them to be the evil beings controlling the Tripods.