War Of The Worlds

I knock Spielberg around sometimes, but I can't deny credit where it's due: the strength of this movie, the action set pieces, are phenomenal works of direction. The chaos of the alien attacks is realized to an astounding degree, creating scenes that are emotionally gripping and downright scary. It helps that the alien tripods (a bit of throwback fidelity to Wells's original story) are genuinely alien and creepy. So visually, the film is most impressive. On the down side, the character relationships are just about unbelievable (no kids, no matter how alienated from their father, would be that snotty when all that shit was going down), and there's at least one major story discontinuity. But this one really isn't a thinking movie; it's there to be seen, and you get what you want in that regard.