War of the Worlds (2005)

Last year's big summer blockbuster provides ample evidence of director Spielberg's technique, but is emotionally a busted flush.  The special effects of aliens and their tripods attacking the world and destroying our population to provide fodder for their own food crop is spectacular and terrifying, but the human element is unfortunately vested in Tom Cruise's deadbeat Dad, whose two children have been left with him for the nonce by his divorced wife, now remarried and pregnant and off to visit family.  While Cruise no doubt views himself as a heroic figure in today's cinema, he spends most of the movie on the run -- scared to death as most of us would be -- and only somewhat belatedly eager to protect his kids.  His ultimate survival, ignoring his having become a murderer in the process, and the final reuniting of the complete family defies belief -- but he is Tom Cruise after all.  While, in a way, it is nifty to observe the action effectively through one pair of eyes, this technique does drag things down to a crawl at times and I for one craved the broader picture.  Despite the elements of the tale now being familiar to us from countless other "invasion" flicks, this is only the second film version of Wells' book.  The first was back in 1953 and is fondly remembered 'though, truth to tell, it is a little primitive by modern standards.  The leads of that film, Gene Barry and Ann Robinson, have a small cameo in this one as a footnote to movie history.