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Top Critics (42)
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Spielberg's calculations turn out to be more prominent than any effects they could possibly produce, and the less pretentious 1953 version by producer George Pal emerges as more likable.
Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds is huge and scary, moving and funny-another capper to a career that seems like an unending succession of captivations.
Overall, the film is too lacking in feeling to provide a recognizably human experience.
War of the Worlds is taut, gripping and surprisingly dark filmmaking.
H.G. Wells wouldn't recognize his 1898 alien-invasion novel, The War of the Worlds, in Steven Spielberg's updated film version. But Wells could probably relate to the ensuing fear and panic.
There's stuff to make you go 'Wow!' but nothing you'll remember the next day.
An unstoppable juggernaut of action and anxiety that will have you blundering from the cinema in a state of nervous exhaustion. Don't expect any soft drink promotional tie-ins with this summer blockbuster.
War of the Worlds is that most rare of screen adaptations - a film that is faithful to its origins and at the same time, its own separate creature. The first half is better than the second, but what a first half.
Alien invasion thriller too scary for young kids.
so impressive in so many ways that it makes the frustration over its miserable final moments that much harder to bear
...terrific special effects, good acting, a few powerful scenes, and some of the most ridiculous coincidences found in any old-time, B-grade sci-fi flick. (Blu-ray Edition)
...in its own right it works well enough most of the time to pass an entertaining couple of hours.
An exciting, intense, gruesome, and awfully subversive piece of science fiction escapism...
See it, but lower your expectations.
great flick from spielberg
This is Spielberg at his unabashedly commercial worst %u2014 bland, unimaginative, and more interested in his bang than his brain.
Spielberg blows stuff up better than anyone -- he proves himself the maestro of that by-now-degraded game.
Just when it seemed like Mr. Spielberg might be maturing into a filmmaker with some much-needed cynicism, you realize he's still just out there rounding up the dollars.
Spielberg flips the E.T. script with this sci-fi flick which reverts to the pulp fiction notion of aliens as the enemies of earthlings.
Reconfirms Spielberg as a master of action, here seamlessly integrating spectacular visual magic into the most mundane and familiar settings.
Like disasters in real life, the film hits you in the gut with a vision of catastrophe, and leaves you to sort out what it all means.
Spielberg creates an alien invasion movie that can be labelled the antithesis to the likes of Independence Day or the ilk. The reason? The personal perspective.
The film is dark and bleak with little real sense of wonder--the thing that should be Spielberg's forte.
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