War of the Worlds (DVD, 2005, Widescreen)

Ah anyway, I'd like my money back please. What a stinker! Spielberg blew it with this one by once again making the meat and potatoes of the film take a back seat to some sort of dysfunctional family crisis resolution. If Cruise had been the only main character, if his character had been more of a hero-type, if they'd thrown out the whole family bit, this would've been a lot better. But they didn't.

If you are looking online to buy this movie I will assume you already know the story plot of this movie. So I wont go into a long description and waste your time.
My husband and I watched this today. I really enjoyed the movie. It kept me on the edge of my seat.It was action packed and fast paced. There weren't many slow points during this movie. And even thought it is an alien sci-fi it did make you think about human behavior and the realm of possibilities out there...
I recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys this genre. It is however a bit much for some children. I am pretty liberal with what I let my kids see... But some of the scene were pretty high tension and bloody. The acting was pretty good. Lots of well acted intense emotional scenes.
My only regret is that I didn't watch it in the theater to get the full effect.
I hope this opinion helped you out. I wanted to put an opinion out instead of a recap of the film which anyone can fine on amazon or in the description.
Enjoy!!!!!!!!

I believe that this movie sucked. The coming attractions made it look like it was going to be a good movie, and it just wasn't. The whole storyline made no sense what so ever, neither did the end. My belief is that they just needed to make a film just so they can have Tom Cruise as the star. This movie sucked and was a total waste of my time and money.

Worst Spielberg movie I've ever seen. Spielberg is a kindda history and Peter Jackson is the man now. As always Tom Cruise movie is boring. I never liked his movies. Not a single one. A lot of weird unsmooth stories on this one. For example, Robbie was acting strange incessantly as if possessed by some demon but he actually wanted to join army to fight alien. "Oh~ they want me! I gotta be there!" How lame. At the beginning Tom Cruise was walkin cool on the street surrounded by local peeps and all of sudden attacked by this alien. He comes home and acts as if shell-shocked. That one was not a smooth acting either. It's just lame. And I don't know why Tim Robinson appeared in this movie either. What's his role in this movie? Nothing but a homelessman. Only good thing about this movie is a little girl named Dakoda Fanning. She's a good actress.

Its poor because it kinda blows I had to sell my copy...what I have the dvd ? I did but not any more ha ha ha

This movie is an adaptation of the old War of theWorlds.

It is set in modern times.
The movie is really held together by Steven Speilburgs terrific special effects and great photography.

Rather than being like the origional; this is more a post 911 movie .
Buildings fall, peoplr e run.

A lot of good camera work and fun forthat but thin on plot.

Great story, wonderful premise, and the original film (for it's time) was a masterpiece, so why did they let Tom Cruise phone in his acting, was the poor boy sick during the whole shoot???

I patiently awaited the release of this movie with great expectations. I remember reading the book as a youngster and seeing the 1954 movie. I liked the book and loved the origional movie so naturally looked forward to this one. Perhaps I expected to much.

I was very disapointed as I left the theater. I think I was expecting an updated version of the origional instead of a total recreation of the basic story. I feel that the story was not about the invasion of Earth, but more about an average guy and his dysfucntional kids. (Tom Cruise just can't play an average guy.)

Hollywood loves to make formula movies. Plug in a couple of kids, a scream or 20, some flashy special effects, a lot of noise, and emphasis on the characters instead of the story and its supposed to be good. In this case x+y does not = z. The begining was slow, the ending was sudden, and the total story was a bit muddled. The only part of the movie that I did like was the interaction with the Martians in the basement of the farmhouse.

You will probably like the movie if you've never seen the origional or read the book. But if you are a lifetime sci-fi lover with a little patina you'll be disapointed with this one.

First of all i must say that i read and very much liked the book form Wells.
Second, i like both Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg for all they have done bofore.

Now i must say that i found that the movie really was off the track. It did not respet the book in many aspect, such as the way the aliens arrives (from asteroids in the book to coming out of the earth in the movie), some passages with the aliens and most shoking of all, the adding of the son and daughter. I can understand that adding the fammily adds new feallings to the movie, but we already had good ones in the book. What i dislike the most in the movie was the little girl, which wasn't there to create feelling for the fammily, but to hit the nerves by shoutng all the time.

Finnaly, what was made of this excellent book became one of the worse movie i ever saw. It is sad to say since it could hae been very good, but, really, they were off the track.

This version off War of the Worlds was good, and Tom Cruise did his usual good job, but the movie could have been better. There was suspense, there was good effects, there was a pretty good adaptation of the story - but it could have been more. I would like to have seen more of a stretch from the original story. Dakota Fanning was very good. Overall, a good popcorn movie.

Thought this movie was pretty good. I of course had not read the book or had seen any previews for the movie. I didn't know what to expect so I could not really prejudge what was suppose to happen or what I thought should happen. I was really drawn into all of the excitement and action. The movie continued at a good pace with new and interesting scenes until the end. I was disappointed with the all too happy ending. Overall it would be worth the rental!!

War of the Worlds has an interesting plot and is action packed. Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning are great in this movie. The special effects are amazing, very realistic... makes the aliens a tangible fear. The movie really keeps you on the edge of your seat with all the action, but it all ends so abruptly at the conclusion. It was over all a great movie, but I was a little disappointed when it was over... there seemed to be a lack of fulfillment. I wouldn't recommend this movie for the kids, too graphic. Great for those into the sci-fi genre.

As a fan of the original 1898 HG Wells novel, and the original 1953 movie, as well as the Mercury Theatre radio broadcast narrated by Orson Welles, I was disappointed after seeing this movie in the theatre. Tom Cruise was very good in his role, as was Tim Robbins, and the special effects were excellent, but the movie as a whole just didn't seem to mesh well. The original book and movie encompassed the whole world fighting the Martians with all of humanity's very survival at stake. This Spielberg offering concentrates on Cruise and his children dealing with relationship issues and their apparent salvation if they can journey to his ex-wife in an apparently untouched major city.

Dakota Fanning screams a lot, the ending is anti-climatic, and the new story fails when compared to the original. The dvd release also has few noteworthy extras.

If you want to watch good science fiction purchase the original 1953 War of the Worlds which was re-released in a Special Collector's Edition. It has great extras including additional commentaries, specials on Wells, and even the original War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast.

Keep Watching the Skies!

Definately not a remake of the classic just with new actors, it's full of action scenes and fantastic special effects, and the best actors giving their best performances, a true thriller with shock effect and a story line to follow. It was so much more than I expected from the title, loved it.

This movie was tedious. I was wholly disappointed in this work, especially considering the cast (Tom Cruise, Tim Robins) and director (Steven Spielberg). If you like the movie Twister, you will love this. It has some very good (and expensive) special effects, but I found myself rooting for the aliens throughout the movie. This could have been a real look at what a father would do to save his children, or what people would do to save their planet, or human reaction to the falling of everything they know; instead we get everyone whining throughout the entirety of the movie and boredom waiting for something of true interest to happen. There is one spark of what may actually happen when as Tom and his family get to a little town and lose the van (the only working van on the planet apparently except for the tanks?) the crowd goes crazy and you actually start to see how humans would probably react. Through it all you will sit idly by waiting for some ending (which is horrible and very sappy) and again be disappointed because all you have to do is wait long enough and the aliens die and everyone is reunited and happy. Some insight into the human condition could have saved this movie and delving into a true action adventure movie would have numbed te mind but been entertaining, however, we got a movie with a story line and acting similar to that form a high school AV club production with the most advanced special effects possible.

UPDATE: For further proof this movie was no good and the acting was terrible, Tom Cruise was nominated for a Razzie!

In short this movie is tedious and a horrible waste of time and money. Save yourself some money, get the original movie or if you can the original audio and avoid this at all costs.

What in the world! Aliens that grew out from the ground? This movie is so unrealistic that I don't think it is worth anyone time to watch it. Don't waste your money on this movie. The movie is not even scary! It is just weird. The acting from Tom Cruise is dry. He played a single father who does not know how to deal with his son. The movie is very dry and boring. The actions were ok but at time it seems too much.

In this movie, it doesn't move so fast. The graphics are great. You actually get to see the aliens and machines up close in detail. Alot of movies you get one good shot. This movie wasn't scary at all to me, but it was so action packed, and thats great too. I never saw the Original, so I cant compare. At the end of the movie, I was left confused. I dont want to give the movie away in my confusion. It took me a little bit to figure out.
I just watched it for the second time and watched 'The Making of the Tripods & Aliens'. It tells what did happen. I also saw things I didn't even noticed in the movie (How different Stephen Spielberg creations were from most alien movies). Kinda creepy.
I really wasn't interested in it when seeing the previews/trailors on TV. My finace was, so we bought it when it came out on DVD, and I wasn't disappointed. It was a great movie.

Even though Tom Cruise is the only one supposedly smart enough to dodge the vehicles on the highway and just happens to have the only running car, this movie still has enough punch to send a chill through you. It's a little hard to accept the fact that Cruise is, in fact, old enough to be the dad of a teenager. But, he can still run like a deer and has that same charm. Dakota Fanning's screaming does tend to grate a little, but I would probably scream like that too if these behemoths were after my tail. I don't usually rent movies that I saw in the theater, especially on the very day they come out on DVD. This is an exception. It is that good. The terroristic undertones are definitely there, but I was too caught up in the aliens the first time to miss that until one of the characters mentions it. This is a great one for your Tom Cruise or sci-fi collection!

This movie had great potential but I think it fell short very short, the movie spent more time on the little boring things and less time on the story at hand. and at the end boom they all died, without a good ending

This movie was hyped up so bad that when I watched it I was so upset with the turnout. The graphics were great and the realism too. The movie jumped right into the disaster and ended very quicly as well. There was no time to learn about the characters.

I didnt much like the story line. Good Computer graphics and animation but the story was dumb. Not worth watching.

There was little plot development to this film and no character development. Cruise started out as a divorced loser and was still divorced and still a loser at the film's end. His only accomplishment seems to have been an uncanny or overly lucky talent for avoiding the nasty aliens. While the premise that microscopic organisms would be the downfall of any invader was original in H.G. Wells time it seems a little simplistic today. One would hope any alien intent on taking over Earth would have the intelligence to protect themselve from such an event.
If you like special affects and nonstop action, this is the film for you. But then you could just visit the local slaughter house and see the same thing.

I was skeptical to watch this movie after some of the reviews it got from the media but i finally watched it and man it was great..
it was non stop action and suspense just make sure you go to the bathroom before you watch the movie and have everything you need because you cant get up because you will miss something.
this movie was very well done and is a must have for your dvd collection!