All I can say is 3 words----- right to video!

Definately leave the kids at home. I took my 9 and 12
year old kids on the day it opened before I had read any
reviews or had heard anything about it. They were both a
bit freaked out and my 9 year old had a hard time sleeping
that night. I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't more
family friendly since it is a summer movie. I thought it
was OK but that's about all I thought of it.

Speilberg.....when, oh when, oh when will this guy get his
poop together? He has access to infinite resources but
hasn't made a fullblown, completely entertaining film in
years....where did the genuis go for cryin' out loud? A
great set up falls apart half way in......the writers seemed
to have no clue what do to once they got to the basement. I
saw more than a few movie patrons looking at their watches
like I was wondering when this fiasco was going to wrap
up.....frustrating as #@!*. The lifeless finale was very
similar to the last sci-fi opus the guy helmed.....what was
it called?...oh, yes Minority Report.....same listless,
unfulfilling, almost absurd finale repeated here. Sad waste
of time and talent on all levels. By the way, if there is
ever an alien attack......get to a Boston brownstone......I
guess the upper crust will not suffer death and destruction
like the rest of us great unwashed. Plot hole after plot
hole killed any logic the film might have had.....left me
wanting my money back. I give it two stars for the first
half....the last half.....well, guess I'd better not comment
further or I'd be forced to use profanity.

Good movie overall. Never could quite figure out what the
birds had to do with the weakening of the aliens. It was
supposed to be important but the part came and went so fast
it was almost an afterthought. Too bad Tom Cruise only
plays himself these days. Seems like the only role he knows
is Tom Cruise (Kevin Costner has the same problem).
I'm glad it didn't have cheesy dialogue and lame jokes in
it like Independence Day. Overall I really like it.

Ok, let me see if I have this story straight. A million
years ago, an alien race of beings, greatly superior to
humans in intelligence, visited our earth from an unnamed
planet. Of course there were no people here at that time,
but, in anticipation that an intellectually inferior human
race would spontaneously develop, these genius aliens buried
deep underground all over the world a huge number of
enormous mechanical "tripod" implements of war. (How they
transported these extremely heavy and unwieldy machines and
how they buried them is a whole nuther story.) This massive
project was undertaken based on the supposition that a
million years hence the earth would become a pleasant place
for future generations of homeless aliens to live.
Obviously the anticipated human inhabitants of Earth would,
by then, be an unruly lot, unwilling to surrender their
planet as a residence for aliens, however intelligent. They
would need to be exterminated. The idiotic tripod
contraptions would prove to be a very clumsy, slow and
low-tech means of exterminating four billion people. But
the genius aliens must have understood that during the
ensuing million years they would be unable to make any real
progress in military technology (no WMD?) and would need
these ancient and stupid implements to blast the moron
humans to bits one at a time. The aliens should be given
credit for anticipating the need for human blood to
fertilize their food source and for inventing a completely
ridiculous method of extracting the blood. (How they knew
that humans would even have blood is a mystery for the
ages.) The fact that their stupendous machines would prove
vulnerable to a simple human-developed hand grenade must be
put down as an oversight of galactic proportions. Even L.
Ron Hubbard would be embarrassed. Numerous other idiotic
things about this putrid mess could be enumerated, but it
has already taken too much of my time. Dakota Fanning is a
marvelous actress who should not waste her exceptional gift
on such drivel. Spielberg should find another line of work.
Tom Cruise.... bleah.

wow... is all i have to say. what a movie. action from
the get go. haunting sound effects, brilliant aliens,
great scenes that show true human emotion when they are
pressed into "survival" mode. i hope i dont have the only
car when the aliens come. very fast paced and action
packed. i think the basement scene was a neccessity
because it showed the man vs. man element that is the true
identity of this film. tim had to go, he had to go. i
wouldnt take anyone under say, 14 or so, unless they have a
great grasp on reality and the fact that we go to movies to
be entertained. very scary, but like spielbergs movies
always leave you at the end, i'm still thinking about
the "what if" . i appreciated the lack of the look around
the corner and BAM, alien in your face scenes that make you
jump out of your seat. the fact that they were there and
making dust out of everyone was enough. best tom cruise
character for a long time, and give fanning the best
supporting actress oscar right now, i can't believe she's
as young as she is, what a great performance. tim robbins,
paleez put the axe down, pa leez. all in all, the best
movie of the summer so far. a real "thinker"

In general I agree with Mr. Vice on this movie. Our family
had fun watching it. You do want to think twice about
taking younger children. Our 7 year old said the movie
was "not scarry, it's cool". He really liked the alien
machines. Both our 7 and 10 year old thought that Batman
Begins was more scarry, and they liked War of the Worlds
better. Our 13 year old thought it was very suspenseful and
intense. All of the kids liked War of the Worlds better
than Batman Begins. My wife and I thought War of the Worlds
had some very gruesome scenes, with very disturbing images.
We both think that Batman Begins is the best movie to come
out this year and was much better than War of the Worlds.
We give War of the Worlds 2 stars. The kids gave it 3 stars.

While War of the Worlds is a visually dazzling and
thrilling ride perfectly programmed for the 4th of July
weekend, Steven Spielberg doesn't exactly give us a
Jurassic Park or even Minority Report instead we get
something akin to The Lost World: Jurassic Park but
slightly better. The screenplay by David Koepp is the main
reason this thing fails to be the awe inspiring event it
should have been. There are way too many coincidences and
close calls and conventional happy endings that work to
crush this film's impact. I did think the special effects
were amazing and the sound work was equally impressive and
this is obviously Spielberg's year in the visual effects
and sound design Oscar race. The performances are good and
actually elevate the weak material. Dakota Fanning
continues to be the female Haley Joel Osment and Tom Cruise
is the perfect everyman. It's fun but it could have been
so much more especially considering the talent involved.

What this movie is really about is a study of "Tom Cruise"
and his disfunctional family. The war is just an
incendental backdrop. I was very disapointed. If you
want to see War of the Worlds, see the original

This movie is really great! I was on the edge of my seat
in the theater at all times! Tom Cruise is a really great
actor, which is why he got that part. Dakota Fanning is
one of the greatest child actors ever! War of the World's
is better than the original just because it's more modern.
The plot is really great, and it's easy to follow. AWESOME
MOVIE!!!!

The "hiding in the basement from the alien eye rope" feels like a complete rip-off of the "velociraptors in the kitchen" scene from Jurassic park.