In 1982, Steven Spielberg made the gentle alien E.T. come down
to Earth. But all E.T. really wanted to do was go back to his faraway
home-planet.

Well folks, we're a long way from 1982. The extra-terrestrials
who have come down to Earth this time aren't gentle. And they'll
only go home after they've destroyed our homes.

War of the Worlds begins with a dock worker (Tom Cruise)
who's divorced from his wife (Miranda Otto). One morning, she comes
by to drop their children (Dakota Fanning and Justin Chatwin) off
at his place. But when she leaves, the world starts to change. Evil
alien towering-tripod-machine-things come marching into town and
zapping the landscape into smithereens. Tom and his children must
run away...

Based on an 1898 novel by one of science fiction's greatest writer
H.G. Wells, War of the World reunites Hollywood's best
sci-fi director Steven Spielberg with the world's biggest Scientology
follower Tom Cruise.

The result — if you haven't already heard — is an eye-scalding
visual spectacle that delivers one astounding image after another.
All the disasters — and there are very many of them —
are meticulously staged and shot.

Our main gripe is that the story lacks complexity. The alien attack
plot feels a little vintage to us. And the ending is also a little
anti-climactic. Still, War of the World is a visual and
aural spectacle not to be missed. It will give you bang for your
buck — indeed, many, many bangs.