War of the Worlds review

Watched it.
As much as I anticipated watching this epic sci-fi film, sadly it did not live up to the hype.

I guess I was expecting a more contemporary adaptation of the H G Wells classic.But it came across more as a slick 70's vision of Martians than anything. The machines of the Martians resemble something out of the original novel and not a modern interpretation of it. I mean by all means remain faithful to the original, but watching huge tripods walking around does not quite inspire the awe or fear it did in the 1930's.
Overall the film was rather bleak and had apocalyptic overtones *duh*.
The ending...ahh...the ending...horrible! The worst and most anti-climatic ending to come out of Hollywood in recent times. Where was the the final battle? Where was the epic struggle between good and evil? Where was the flourish of human will overcoming the insurmountable odds and thus vanquishing of the faceless machines? No Independence day ending here. No chest thumping. No lump in throat. Bah.

*SPOILER ALERT*

WTF!!! The aliens died because they were unable to form immunity to bacteria and viruses?? That is how mankind was saved from certain extinction?

Dakota Fanning is great in her niche roles as a frightened,creepy looking kid. But here she tends to overact and come across as a cry baby. After 10 minutes of it you just wish someone would slap some sense into her after all her screeching, whining and just basically being a pain in the ass.

And this is a film that calls you to suspend logic and lacks suspense. It is alright if our heroes have close shaves and escape by the skin of their teeh a FEW times. But this borders on the ridiculous when they seemingly survive and evade all the alien technology and destruction time after time.

In all this film was just a lazy excuse to rehash old ideas and 'dazzle' us with amazing special effects. It lacks the charm and heart that characterised most Spielberg films.

Rating: 2 1/2 fingers up the nose out of 5