Could have been good but the ending....

Rating: 5/10 (15 January 2006)

Yet again another doomsday movie with lack of plot. War of the Worlds could have been a great doomsday movie (and I have to admit, it was beautifully opened) but the ridiculous ending and family scenes made the movie look like as if it had been 'shortened'.
The ending has got to be one the worst endings I've seen in my entire life. Why doesn't the movie depict how the aliens came to their demise? Why the intense focus on the family? Why doesn't the movie end with something that's dramatic, or something that's not too predictable? For a big budget movie, War of the Worlds was a failure. Sure, it did top the box office, but one thing puzzles me -- why aren't the big budget movies the ones that take out the Oscars, Golden Globes etc etc? Because they lack a good storyline. The millions of dollars worth of funding and focus go to cinematography (and yes, I have to admit I was impressed by the cinematography) while the storyline is neglected. It's a fatal mistake. The storyline is really what a movie is all about, and screwing it up means screwing up the movie itself.
Doomsday movies have never worked for me. The Day After Tomorrow, Armageddon, Independence Day all have a similar plot, the same elements and similar characters. Try watching 28 Days Later or Dawn of the Dead for a good Armageddon-ish movie, rather than this piece of junk.
5/10