Adapted from the novel by H.G. Wells, for the first fifteen or so minutes it’s a domestic drama, as blue collar worker Ray Ferrier (Cruise) struggles with the task of looking after his two children (Fanning and Chatwin) for the weekend while his ex-wife (Otto) goes to Boston with her new husband. Ray is not a good father, as evidenced by his empty fridge and dubious methods of interacting with his kids. Fortunately for him, the end of the world intervenes and saves him from what could have been a really tough couple of days.

News reports have been telling of freak electrical storms around the globe, and when the lightning hits the Ferrier’s neighbourhood, what begins as a cool light show quickly turns into something infinitely more dangerous. As the streets crack apart and buildings crumble, the source of all this devastation reveal themselves from deep beneath the ground - giant mechanical tripods that begin disintegrating everyone and everything in sight. Barely managing to get out of town alive, Ray and his family flee cross country, desperately trying to evade their attackers’ constant onslaught while clinging to the slim hope of safety.

Merciless in its intensity, uncompromising in its brutality, this film will rock you to your core. This is not invasion, it’s apocalypse. The first scenes of alien rampage set the tone, as thousands of people are mown down without regard or pity, and the film continues in the same vein throughout, alternating scenes of massacre with blind hysteria and moments of quiet reflection and sorrow. 

Not that the special effects are the ultimate barometer of the quality of War of the Worlds but, as it happens, they’re simply astonishing. And yet Spielberg doesn’t draw attention to them, often preferring to use an eye popping event in the background to accentuate the human misery being played out in front of it.

Spielberg wastes no time getting into the good stuff. He quickly lays out the main character’s back story and then lets the invasion begin. We learn right away that Ray Ferrier (Cruise) isn’t close with his kids, that his daughter Rachel (Dakota Fanning) and son Robbie (Justin Chatwin) would rather be anywhere than spending the weekend with their neglectful dad. Right after spelling that out in very obvious ways, Spielberg lets loose with 60 minutes of non-stop, white-knuckle-inducing terror. Yes, terror. Spielberg gets all good and nasty with “War of the Worlds,” never letting up when the opportunity arises to show someone being killed by the aliens in their death machines. The attacks are brutal, the lasers fired at the panicking townspeople cause them to burst into dust and drift on the wind, settling on the other fleeing targets still running for their lives.


Yet Spielberg doesn’t always show you what you expect to see. He leads you to the very edge of the precipice, teasing battles going on just beyond your line of sight and building the suspense as much by what’s simply implied as by what’s seen. We don’t see one of the movie’s biggest battles, yet we know exactly what’s going on through the characters’ reactions. Brilliant.


At the heart of the film is the story of a dad forced to reconnect with his children and to do everything in his power to save them. Ray isn’t concerned with battling the aliens. He doesn’t care why they’re here or where they came from. After the aliens invade, Ray really sees his kids – maybe for the first time in years. He turns from viewing them as a necessary intrusion in his life to people who mean everything to him. This little family drama has played out in many ways before, and it just so happens that in this telling of the story, the catalyst forcing a change of heart and a reordering of priorities is an invasion of aliens.


As for the acting, Cruise, Fanning and Chatwin are perfect. Cruise shows a lot of range  playing a jerk who figures things out before it’s too late for his relationship with his kids to be salvaged. Fanning and Chatwin are believable as siblings and neither actor lets Cruise take over their scenes. The threesome – Cruise, Fanning, and Chatwin – are all strong and play well off of each other.

Plot Revealed In The Review:	Somewhat revealed
Best to watch with:	Friends
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Best part in the movie:	No Comment