I’ve heard about H.G. Wells’ books of the same title though I haven’t actually read it. War of the Worlds is based on the events in the book but focuses on an average man (Tom Cruise?!? How can he be average?) doing his best to keep his family of two kids in one piece (literally and figuratively) amidst the ongoing chaos of war. Too much drama for my taste but it actually kind of works. Dakota Fanning played the horrified innocent girl pretty well and Tom Cruise is not too shabby either. But the setting of this human drama could have been any war, it definitely didn’t have to be H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds which I expected to be this epic battle between Mars and Earth. Sure, the aliens and their retro juggernauts were awesome especially when they kill people one at time time, making it so much more horrific (although the efficiency of the method is a bit questionable) and US Army’s relatively puny firepower did add some pretty nice fireworks but as a whole, the war bit ended up a letdown and definitely not the reason to watch this movie. But if you miss Tom Cruise’s Jerry Maguire emoting, you just might want to.
Rating: 3/5