War Of The Worlds(spoilers)

[5lab]

while the ending was soft, i was thankful that it was at least brief - unlike lotr where they dragged it out till tomorrow

[MurphmanL]

Saw it last night, thought it was better than I expected it to be.
Tom Cruise is his usual over-hyped self, didn't exactly give a convincing performance in some parts. In fact i think the little girl Rachel (Dakota Fanning i believe) performed better most part than he did
Thought it ended rather abruptly, and wondered why the heck they all just suddenly died, was rather disappointing.
Effects were brilliant, was gripping and gave the "end of the world" impression throughout, definately Speilberg's finest work. Was a treat, will probably buy the dvd

[magemanda]

I thought it was pants. Cliched nonsense. I've enjoyed both the book and Jeff Wayne's musical version (the latter I've listened to regularly over the last 12 years).

I thought Tom Cruise did what he does in all films now. He played Tom Cruise. He didn't play any particular character. I think that they relied too much on CG etc rather than using effective characterisation. I didn't like the music - felt it was waaay too intrusive.

Why was there a need to move this film to America? Part of the original tension in the book and musical versions was because the human race was trapped on an island by machines/aliens that had shown themselves able to sink boats at will - a far more terrifying prospect than being able to hightail it across America.

Why oh why did the son survive? He practically walked into the gaping maw of one of the aliens...

Why did we see the actual aliens in the cellar? Where was the need for that? It also meant we had to sit through more yawnsome scenes where they almost get caught, but then don't.

How did the house in Boston remain standing?

There were so many holes in the plot you could have driven a truck through them. I thought it was a worthless waste of my time, and I don't think Spielberg intended his audience to be laughing outright at some of the cliches employed.

A dismal 2 out of 10 from me. And one of those two marks comes from the fact I thought the noise the aliens made was pretty cool....

[DavidM]

I still would like to see the low budget one that came out just before this... it apparently wasn't very good, but sticked to the book more accurately at least.

[G4Z]

In fact the noise the aliens made is straight from another speilberg film encounters of the 3rd kind.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_..._movie)#Trivia

[rajagra]

I thought Tom Cruise did what he does in all films now. He played Tom Cruise. He didn't play any particular character.

I've come to realise that that's exactly what all truly great actors do. They don't pretend to be someone else, they merely act in the way that they themselves would behave if they found themselves in the situation described in the story.
If you look back at the great actors of the last century, they all had character, personality, an individuality that made them fascinating. And they brought that aspect of themselves to every role they played.
Of course, it doesn't follow that every actor that works that way is a great actor. The major disadvantage that Tom Cruise has is that... he's Tom Cruise.
Still, I don't begrudge the guy his success. He's in the business of making movies that make money, and that is something he does well. Perhaps he's more talented than we give him credit for.