War of the Worlds

War of the Worlds. Oh no! 

This was interesting to watch at first. Then, it went all down hill from there.

This was Steven Spielberg's retelling of the classic novel by H. G. Wells. It stars Tom Cruise. And as you may know, Tom Cruise runs in nearly every movie he's starred in. He runs a lot in this movie. I used to like Tom Cruise until he started getting weird in public. Now, we really know he's a jerk. It's a shame the movie sucked, because I usually like Spielberg movies.

The special effects were good, but the story just didn't add up. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, not even science fiction fans. I can't believe it did as well as it did at the box office. I guess there weren't that many good movies out last summer.

It may be a good social study of panic and mob behavior. I couldn't believe how the crowd acted when they saw Cruise and his kids in the minivan. They wanted it so bad, that they tore through the windshield with their bare hands. I guess things like that do happen when people are desperate. We've all seen similar things happen like in Hurrican Katrina.

What didn't make sense was how those aliens planted those tripod machines underground a million years ago. Then, the aliens came back when they were ready to invade earth. The aliens came down in lightning bolts to go underground to operate those machines. And humans never noticed those machines down there before?

The aliens start killing everyone in the beginning by zapping them into dust. Then, the aliens wanted to harvest humans for food and energy. What was the point of all that killing in the beginning then?

Warning. Spoiler ahead. Do not read if you still want to watch this dud of a flick. After going through all that trouble, the aliens start dying off because of germs. It was great in the book, but seemed so random and anticlimactic in the movie. Come on.

How they heck did that bratty kid come back in the end? It was almost disappointing to see him back again.

David Kim's movie rating: D, 63.
Special effects: Nice building explosions.
Sociological studies on mob behavior are about the only redeeming thing about the film. The characters were hard to love. The story was not compelling.