# Good Lord! Speilberg's "War of the Worlds" with Tom Cruise was an awful movie! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 22, 2006, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-speilbergs-war-of-the-worlds-with-tom-cruise-was-an-awful-movie/353780 "2006-04-22T19:44:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-speilbergs-war-of-the-worlds-with-tom-cruise-was-an-awful-movie/353780/1 "2006-04-22T19:44:20Z")
I just watched this on DVD. My God what a POS! Other than the special effects it was pure formual -\*bad formula \* movie making. There was so much that could have been done with an updated re-telling of this this tale, but none of these possibilities came to pass. The effects were OK (not great) and the acting was the worst I have ever seen Cruise do. Between Mr. Smirk and Mr. Tension there wasn’t much in between. That and the incoherent plot made for a shambles all round. How does a script like this mess get green lighted. In googling it appears [Ebert hits this pileof monkey mess](http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050628/REVIEWS/50606007/1023) dead on ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-speilbergs-war-of-the-worlds-with-tom-cruise-was-an-awful-movie/353780/2 "2006-04-22T19:53:52Z")
It wasn’t bad, I thought(It wasn’t great either). The Martians were plenty scary, even though there were plenty of plot holes(why not invade way back when their machines first arrived?) And I agree that Cruise didn’t add anything to the movie. On the other hand, this was the kind of movie where he didn’t need to, because his only job was to react to the martians. I still like it better then the 1950’s version though, just because of the tripods. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-speilbergs-war-of-the-worlds-with-tom-cruise-was-an-awful-movie/353780/3 "2006-04-22T20:17:43Z")
Well, I’ll be the dissenting voice. I thought it was really good, and Cruise is an underrated actor. ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-speilbergs-war-of-the-worlds-with-tom-cruise-was-an-awful-movie/353780/4 "2006-04-22T20:18:29Z")
I agree it wasn’t _that_ bad. As to why it got green-lighted, Steven Speilberg could take video of himself taking a poo and Sony Pictures would be interested. We’re talking about the guy who made Jaws, E.T., Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List, All the Indian Jones pictures, etc. The guy has the golden touch in Hollywood. As for Tom Cruise, I also agree he seems to have no more than three modds or expressions in most of his movies. (“Jerry McGuire” being a notable exception.) But Hollywood doesn’t demand deep acting in a big-budget action flick about an alien invasion. You might as well critique Will Smith in “Independence Day.” ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-speilbergs-war-of-the-worlds-with-tom-cruise-was-an-awful-movie/353780/5 "2006-04-22T20:19:25Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Well, I’ll be the dissenting voice. I thought it was really good, and Cruise is an underrated actor. Oh, make no mistake, I think Tom Cruise can be a good actor, He just wasn’t in this imovie. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-speilbergs-war-of-the-worlds-with-tom-cruise-was-an-awful-movie/353780/6 "2006-04-22T20:38:57Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Well, I’ll be the dissenting voice. I thought it was really good, and Cruise is an underrated actor. Ditto. I really enjoyed the movie and thought Cruise was fine. It didn’t change my views on life, the universe, and everything; I simply enjoyed it. Then again, I watched \*The Cave \*yesterday and thought it was a pleasant way to waste 90 minutes, so take my opinions for what they’re worth. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![rexnervous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@rexnervous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rexnervous)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-speilbergs-war-of-the-worlds-with-tom-cruise-was-an-awful-movie/353780/7 "2006-04-22T20:42:13Z")
Saw it on the big screen, and on the rare occasions I do that my basic barometer is “did I enjoy it for the money?” And this movie garnered an unqualified yes. It’s a popcorn flick and had some great thrills and great scenes. The ending was terrible, there were some scenes that screamed ‘overacting’, but all-in-all I enjoyed it. I didn’t go in expecting to see the next “Godfather” or “Citizen Kane”. ---
**Author:** ![mrunlucky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7993a0/32.png) [@mrunlucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrunlucky)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-speilbergs-war-of-the-worlds-with-tom-cruise-was-an-awful-movie/353780/8 "2006-04-22T21:03:18Z")
I’m another dissenting voice on this. I have loved the writing of H.G. Wells for half my life. I have never cared for Cruise, and half the time I see a movie with him in it, I feel like I have to do my best to put up with him (and especially his 500 close-ups in _Mission: Impossible 2_ . Still, considering the demands of updating the story, Speilberg and the writers managed to do a surprisingly good job. Being as familiar with the story as I am and the first movie version, I still held my breath in horror for about the first 20 minutes. This is one of those movies I am glad I saw in a theatre with the THX sound system instead of on a little TV screen. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-speilbergs-war-of-the-worlds-with-tom-cruise-was-an-awful-movie/353780/9 "2006-04-22T21:29:03Z")
Hated it. Absolutely hated it. at the end whereeveryone is united and all rosy cheeked it made me want to puke. Dakota Fanning is the devil. ---
**Author:** ![Balduran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@Balduran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balduran)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-speilbergs-war-of-the-worlds-with-tom-cruise-was-an-awful-movie/353780/10 "2006-04-22T21:40:28Z")
Another one who liked it. I found the tripods scary. I didn’t care that burying them on Earth millions of years ago made no sense, and I also didn’t find the actors distracting. Often things like this would have detracted from my viewing experience, but for some reason it didn’t here. I was happy just to see the tripods zapping everything and people fleeing. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-speilbergs-war-of-the-worlds-with-tom-cruise-was-an-awful-movie/353780/11 "2006-04-22T21:44:19Z")
I liked it a lot and thought Cruise had a good performance. Seems like it’s a popular movie for the Cruise-haters to bash, for no apparent reason other than that he’s in it. Shrug. I don’t hate him or love him—he’s had performances I considered bad and others I liked. But I don’t usually let an actor’s private (or public) life color my impression of his or her role. If I did, I wouldn’t be able to watch most movies. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-speilbergs-war-of-the-worlds-with-tom-cruise-was-an-awful-movie/353780/12 "2006-04-22T21:48:23Z")
I would have preferred a classic treatment, set in the 19th-Early 20th Century. I feel the Cruise version was disrespectful of Mr. Wells’ original novel. The original novel is one of my favorite books. I put this flic in the same trashcan as the recent Hollywood _Godzilla_-In-Name-Only lamefest. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-speilbergs-war-of-the-worlds-with-tom-cruise-was-an-awful-movie/353780/13 "2006-04-22T21:55:21Z")
I vote for abyssmal. It’s possible for a movie’s bad parts to not ruin the good parts, but not here. (Yes, there were good parts.) Can Stephen Spielberg _please_ make a movie where a main character is killed and/or things _don’t_ turn out all right in the end? Cruise was fine. I think he’s a great actor. Not his best work, but he had nothing to do with the problems in this movie. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-speilbergs-war-of-the-worlds-with-tom-cruise-was-an-awful-movie/353780/14 "2006-04-22T22:01:16Z")
It was awful. Beyond awful. I will never watch another movie with the Fanning chick again. And what’s so special about a brownstone in Boston that escaped the terror. The tripods were cool, but every time they showed Tom Cruise I wanted to throw up. And why do all the main characters have to be single parents these days? Steven Spielerg has gone from being able to tug at your heartstrings gently to trying to jump up and down on them. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-speilbergs-war-of-the-worlds-with-tom-cruise-was-an-awful-movie/353780/15 "2006-04-22T22:11:34Z")
I just couldn’t buy that damn teenage son. When people are running around screaming and your Dad is yelling at you to get in the car, even the surliest teen is going to get in the god-damned car. He’s not going to be all “Dad, I’m not moving until you give me a detailed explanation of what’s happening, complete with footnotes and an annotated bibliography.” Did anyone else feel that the kid surviving _wasn’t_ a happy ending? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-speilbergs-war-of-the-worlds-with-tom-cruise-was-an-awful-movie/353780/16 "2006-04-22T22:19:12Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > I would have preferred a classic treatment, set in the 19th-Early 20th Century. Huh. I actually agree with the dead trout thrower. On this point anyways. 😛 Part of the problem with the TC/DF version was that the characters were shit. DF was an annoying little brat, TC was a creepoid loser of a non-dad. I can’t recall the names for the other characters, so no more initials for me. The effects were superb. Amazing. Amazingly amazing. Like a commercial of what movie FX potential is (are?). But story? Characters? Dialogue? Bleah. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-speilbergs-war-of-the-worlds-with-tom-cruise-was-an-awful-movie/353780/17 "2006-04-22T22:37:23Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > I would have preferred a classic treatment, set in the 19th-Early 20th Century. I agree with you on this, but I think this was the best of the updated ones and I’m not sure we’re ever going to get a period version. Maybe the Jeff Wayne Version will be really cool, but I’m not holding my breath. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-speilbergs-war-of-the-worlds-with-tom-cruise-was-an-awful-movie/353780/18 "2006-04-22T22:47:13Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > Can Stephen Spielberg _please_ make a movie where a main character is killed and/or things _don’t_ turn out all right in the end? A different Spielberg movie: _Saving Private Ryan_ had Tom Hank’s character get killed. He was arguably the main character since Ryan doesn’t show up until the last act. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-speilbergs-war-of-the-worlds-with-tom-cruise-was-an-awful-movie/353780/19 "2006-04-22T23:04:19Z")
A Hudson River ferry (and that was a bigger ferry than I have even seen on that river) is not _Thunder’s Child_. I am still waiting for a good visualization of my favourite scene in the novel. ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-speilbergs-war-of-the-worlds-with-tom-cruise-was-an-awful-movie/353780/20 "2006-04-22T23:15:16Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > Part of the problem with the TC/DF version was that the characters were shit. DF was an annoying little brat, TC was a creepoid loser of a non-dad. I can’t recall the names for the other characters, so no more initials for me. I sorta like the flawed characters, it was more interesting then watching the usual action movie set, whre the characters are all charming, witty and adorable with maybe one flaw tacked on by the screenwriters to make them seem 3 dimensional. Characters have never really been Spielburgs strong point, and his attempt here with Cruise et al. was hit or miss, but it was at least interesting. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-speilbergs-war-of-the-worlds-with-tom-cruise-was-an-awful-movie/353780.md?page=2)