War of the Worlds is a horrific tale of Earth's invasion by nasty blood sucking aliens from Mars. HG Wells published the story in 1898 and it has a strong dose of the Gothic horror the Victorians were so fond of.
Steven Spielberg directed this movie and successfully retained the darkness of the novel. As with most Spielberg films there are children and in this case we have Dakota Fanning as Rachel the 10 year old daughter of Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise). Ferrier also has a teenage son, Robbie, played by Justin Chatwin who helps us understand that the family is estranged by his opposition to his father.
This is a buddy movie in that the main characters are forced to make a journey together and have to get along together. Of course they fail miserably at getting along together so we have their puny human struggles in the context of the gigantic alien vampyric killing machines.
The effects are very good and Steven Spielberg's obsession with light comes to the fore once again. There is a certain special type of horror that follows the flickering lights and like all good horror the storytellers are quite unsympathetic towards the characters.
There is, however, a Spielberg happy ending as the family are reunited against all odds. An enjoyable if bleak and depressing film.
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