You know,
there have been some pretty big producers/directors on this show, George Lucas/Christopher Nolan spring to
mind, but there a few bigger than the one who directed this movie. Steven
Spielberg. Spielberg has directed films from the Indiana Jones and Jurassic
Park, and has been involved in Back to the Future, Men in Black, Tiny Toons,
Animaniacs, Freakazoid and even Transformers.
This and
next week’s Minority Report were both collaborations with Spielberg with
Dreamworks and Tom Cruise with Paramount. The results are mixed as we look at
War of the Worlds. Based (once again very loosely) on the HG Wells novel of the
same name (I haven’t read it, I’m judging the movie as a standalone product) it
was commercially successful grossing nearly $600m on a $132m budget. Critically
also successful, nominated for 6 different academy awards (all of which it lost
to King Kong) but winning awards in other areas.
So why do I
dislike this film? Well, let’s dig in.


