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Hi Patrick ... here were my impressions ... also posted Outside...

Over all a good ride.

The pace of the movie was very fast, covering only two or three days of time. The audience's attention is effectively maintained by increasingly gruesome revaluations of the technology and intentions of the alien attackers. The plot line follows traditional science fiction first contact scenarios where one is led to peal the onion of an alien race. In this case, the onion is being forced down your throat by war machines.

As in most Hollywood action films, the special effects here reach a new plateau with the gigantic and truly horrific "Tripod" human extermination machines. These machines had been buried by the aliens underground long long ago and lay dormant until the day of the attack. Kudos to the effects team for bringing these devices to life as described in the original H.G. Wells text.

The script abandons the idealic country side of victorian England described in the book to echo the horror of 9/11 by setting the description of the landing in a large city, presumably New York. The carnage of the tripod war machines in the inner city provides endless additional opportunity for the special effects crew.

The central character, Ray Ferrier, played by Tom Cruise, aquires some depth as the divorced father desperately tries to save what is left of his family. His son gives him a lesson in responsibility and duty, wanting to join the soldiers in the conflict, once again bringing us all back to our current war on terror. The chaos and complete break down of civil society is illustrated in two key scenes, one with a mass riot at a ferry dock, and another more personally illustrated conflict between Cruise and a slightly insane Tim Robins who replaces "The Astronomer",Ogilvy, from the book.

Surely not a "Great" movie, but a hell of a story and well executed. If only H.G. Wells could have seen his machines come to life. What an imagination!


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