Speilberg lays a stinker - War of the Worlds Reviews

What a shame. Spielberg takes a good story and slaughters it. Poor direction and bad writing really send this one up on the *Stink-O-Meter?". Spielberg needs to spend time studying mob mentality and panic. Mobs do not move orderly and calmly. Most "crap hits the fan" situations bring out the absolute worst in people and LOTS more firearms in private hands. People do not wander willingly into battle areas... They flee them. As far as the script, Tom's character tries too hard to be a bad father and the laughs are so hard to get, they have to be repeated. The alien's plan is not believeable. While the defeat of the aliens goes acording to the story by Wells, it is not believeable. Aliens would not lose. Spielberg should have taken more creative license and added a few suprises. I was tempted to walk out, as I had seen just about everything in the movie before in other movies, but I had nothing better to do. The visuals, while realistic, lack creativity and were begged, borrowed, and stolen from other movies. The aliens look remarkably like the aliens from Independance Day as do the alien vehicles look like ID4's mother ship. Tom delivers a poor performance. He relies too much on the trademarked Cruise smile and not enough on acting skills. His character makes you want to reach out and smack him. Dakota was wonderful and the only reason I give Acting a C. Nothing more to be said there. If you have a good home theater, wait till it comes out on PPV or DVD. Save your money. While sheeple will flock to see the movie, it does not deserve to be the blockbuster it tries so hard to be.