War of the Worlds review

I just got around to seeing it today, and I have to say I thought it was fairly mediocre. Not quite the Spielberg brilliance I was expecting, but pretty decent overall. The idea of centering it around a broken family finding their solidarity through a traumatic experience was creative, but somewhat ineffective by limiting the scope of the story. I grew tired of watching the same people run from one place to the next only to find themselves in the exact same situation they just escaped from. Perhaps if there were a few other strong characters (diversity worked well in Independence Day for sure), it would have moved things along in a more engaging manner. But don't get me wrong, there were definitely some good performances by the leads, Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning among them. In terms of the story though, I couldn't help but walk away and feel that the whole thing ended too fast. All of a sudden, we go from hell back to normal as the characters arrive in Boston without as much as a couple of missiles being shot off. Okay, fine, so the aliens suddenly realize that they are not properly vaccinated against Earth's plethora of viruses and bacteria. But if they were so well invested in their plan as to take the time to bury machines deep under the ground, you'd think they would have also looked at our complex biosphere in the process. Not to mention, if they had been planning this for millions of years, why didn't they just take over Earth back when there were dinosaurs walking around with brains the size of peanuts? Why risk coming into contact with an evolved race of beings that might be able to exploit a potential weakness? Oh well, nobody's perfect.

However, at the risk of sounding completely uninformed here (I can't claim to have read the book), I welcome any comments that would assist in shedding light on the various "flaws" I have found with this movie. After all, I never claim to know everything, especially when they involve diabolical alien plans to enslave and/or annihilate the human race.