Yet another remake... I vaguely remember reading War of the Worlds a number of years ago. I do recall it actually being a fairly good read. I wonder if Spielberg read it, or if he just took some major (loose) plot points…

Anti-psychiatry guru Tom Cruise stars as a father who doesn’t know how to father, Ray Ferrier. His daughter, Rachel- played by Dakota Fanning, is the real star. Ray also has a son, Robbie, played by Justin Catwin, but I began to hope he would be incinerated- even though he was wearing a Red Sox hat (he was that bad).

War of the Worlds has some good action sequences, great special effects- especially the flower at the end, but it really has no significant plot. Obviously there’s a problem, the world is being attacked by aliens, and the problem’s resolved, but there are so many holes in the plot it’s like watching Matt Lauer interview Cruise about psychiatry. In fact, I could have sworn I saw Ray lecturing his son about the history of psychiatry at some point. If you take psychiatric medication, you may end up like the loony character played by Tim Robbins, who was also only decent. The ending was predictably cheesy and irreconcilable with the plot. 

Cruise was okay. Justin Catwin insulted me by wearing the Sox hat; he was horrible. Dakota Fanning was spectacular. It’s too bad her and Morgan Freeman (narrator) had to be tied to this flick. The great effects and Fanning’s acting can’t redeem this rather mediocre film. Perhaps George Lucas rubbed off on Spielberg and he lost his senses. It was not worth the $10 and I don’t think it’ll be worth a few bucks to rent either. Maybe it’s worth borrowing if you have a friend who’s duped into buying it. While it’s probably too frightening for children, nothing in it frightened me. There’s also some language. Go see Revenge of the Sith or Batman Begins again instead of this one.