War of the Worlds (2005) Critic Reviews

War of the Worlds pushes some of the right buttons and enough of the wrong ones to make you wish that Spielberg would move on from aliens already and use his unparalleled talents to focus once more on earth.Read the full review

A big, clunky movie containing some sensational sights but lacking the zest and joyous energy we expect from Steven Spielberg.Read the full review

An attack-of-the-aliens disaster film crafted with sinister technological grandeur -- a true popcorn apocalypse.Read the full review

Working in the spirit of his predecessors but with the kind of uncanny special effects they could barely dream of, Spielberg has come up with an impressive production that is disturbing in the way only provocative science fiction can be.Read the full review

War of the Worlds is not vintage Spielberg, and it's on the grim side for a summer action blockbuster, but it's worth the time and money invested.Read the full review

It's those dark visions of destruction that stick, even when Spielberg pushes the script to an unlikely happy ending. Great foreplay, failed orgasm.Read the full review

It is, simply, the alienation-invasion movie to beat all alien-invasion movies: meticulously detailed and expertly paced and photographed, with sights so spectacular and terrible that viewers will have to consciously remind themselves to close their mouths when their jaws drop open.Read the full review

It's the human struggle that makes this a sci-fi masterpiece.Read the full review

Might be too realistic for its own good: The film takes perhaps a little too much glee in its abilities to manufacture mayhem. That being said, the ride is extraordinary.Read the full review