I don''t know what it is about sci-fi when Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise get together, but it works. The two A-list players last teamed up for the critically successful "Minority Report" - which was not especially financially successful - and they''re looking to set things right with "War of the Worlds," roughly based on the H.G. Wells classic.
"War of the Worlds" follows a loser of a father around, played convincingly by Cruise, who has to save his children when monstrous aliens with deadly ray guns and biological weapons attack Earth with the intent to destroy every living human being on the planet. Dakota Fanning costars as his wise but easily-scared daughter.
Though the movie is directed by Spielberg and works well to go beyond the typical action film, "War of the Worlds" is essentially a popcorn flick, albeit with Spielberg-quality standards. The movie really has very little plot - it follows Cruise and Fanning around as they try to survive one incident after the next - and since the two characters aren''t soldiers, they simply are bystanders in the war. That is all well and good as "War of the Worlds" basically plays out like "Signs" meets "Independence Day." We get the claustrophobic creepiness of the M. Night Shylaman film while getting utter devastation and special effects a la "ID4." The end result is an entertaining film that doesn''t quite know how to finish things.