Still, even this exposition offers some fantastic sequences. As Cruise enters a stranger's basement (played by Tim Robbins), he slowly comes to the realization this man will get him and his daughter killed. In a fabulous, eerie sequence, Cruise blindfolds his daughter and tells her to sing as he murders the man to survive. It's as effective as any scene involving aliens blowing things up.
By that point, silence becomes more terrifying than the death rays coming from the Martian machines. Just before every strike by the invaders, there's this calming quiet, if only to prepare you for what's to come. It's a sign that something is about to occur, and you don't want to be a part of it.
Nearly all of that is destroyed by the ridiculous ending. That has nothing to do with how the aliens die, but how Cruise's son managed to survive a near-nuclear explosion and make it home safely in one piece. His mother's block seems unaffected, along with Gene Barry and Ann Robison in a cameo as grandma and grandpa. Considering the sheer panic and violent war just moments before, it's illogical, and it's distinctly possible this was a studio call, or Spielberg's refusal to let his characters die.
Expected plot holes in the story aside, this is the closet thing to a perfect aggressive alien invasion movie you'll ever see. It offers everything you want, and does it often. It requires some thought (some people are still confused as to how the aliens demise came about), but not enough that you simply can't enjoy what you're watching.
![War of the Worlds (1949) [VHS]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51CF9CFF6YL._SL120_.jpg)
Article comments
1 - johnnysandiego
The special effects were state of the art as expected. The rest was terrible. I was not expecting a morality play about a disfunctional family with screwy teens and dumb dads. The city dwellers were absolutly not believable. The mechanic who was more concerned about returning the only car that worked to his customer than saving his life is a good example. Tim Robbins as a nutcase or child molester is another one. Drama yes. Terror no. What a stupid ending. Hurry for the microbes. I think I'll go out and adopt one.
Save your money, rent the original and turn out the lights in the living room.
2 - DMD
The ending almost seemed tacked on, as if an original one hadn't screened well or something.
3 - SG
...Special Effects within first 30 minutes are awesome and continue to be great right after the aweful acting and depressing thoughts of civilian panic and murder for survival... I wish the main actor story rotated around several characters such as a fire man's viewpoint, a european reporter viewpoint and a stripper protecting her family as in ' Independance Day '... I think Tom Cruise lost a lot of fans through his off-screen crazy moments and then this movie was a poor choice because Tom's character can not sing a simple lullaby and starts singing Beach Boys during an alien invasion to calm his daughter... what a shallow script... It's not much better than SuperMan I style of effects and acting methods... OverAll rating ( 1 to 10 ): 7.0 ( because the special computer effects, pyrotech, alien characters and special camera work during a mini-van conversation... )
... SG
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4 - Mark
I disagree with most of the above comments. I thought the film was really good, the acting was suberb and the effects were simply amazing. Sure the ending seemed a bit odd, but how else could a film producer end it without it resulting in the worlds destruction or else having the same corny ending that all Sci-Fi movies have? Overall I would give this film a 9/10.