As far as I can tell, there isn't a spoiler thread for this, so I'm going to post in here until there is one.
I'm almost afraid to say this, because I feel like I'm going to be in a small minority, but I didn't much like it. It had a lot of good moments, especially early on, but there were a lot of things that just yanked me out of the film like you wouldn't believe.
SPOILERS BEGIN HERE - HIGHLIGHT TO READ
For instance, although I admire the decision to follow Tom Cruise's character with few looks at the bigger picture, it makes some of his stupider decisions incredibly frustrating. For example, arriving at his wife's house and not turning on a TV or radio, or, for that matter, making any attempt to find out what on earth is happening, instead preferring to run and hide in one hole after another. Or apparently killing Tim Robbins, which seemed wholly unnecessary, not to mention the stupid way he did it (walk slowly into the room Robbins is in and shut the door, while Robbins is wielding a shovel and maybe even a shotgun). Although usually I'm against criticizing things like this in a movie, when you're supposed to feel caught up in the catastrophe like the protagonist, his seeming inability to think at all about potentially life-saving decisions is maddening.
The same sort of disregard for logic shows up in the battle scene, when the half the refugees literally run full-sprint into the massive firefight between the aliens and the army.
Tim Robbins didn't necessarily make a lot of sense either. I understand his character was sort of on the brink to begin with, but why on earth would a determined survivalist type like him flip out after seeing somebody 'harvested' by the aliens? Especially since he apparently worked in ambulance beforehand and had presumably seen his fair share of blood and gore.
Or for that matter, what were the aliens doing with humans? Surely there was a more efficient way to fertilize the ENTIRE PLANET than to drain humans of their precious bodily, one by one, and spread them over the surrounding area?
And the ending. Apparently, while the rest of the world was getting massacred by bizarre alien tripods, Tom Cruise's wife and her family were having just a lovely weekend in Boston. What's more, his son, who disappeared over the hill literally seconds before a massive explosion destroyed half the US Army, not only survived but made it to Boston just fine.
Like I said, normally I'm willing to accept Movie Logic, but I have a limit.
Finally, a friend turned to me and asked me this after the movie, and it's a funny point if you think about it a little. How on earth did the aliens know where NYC was going to be a million (or even a few thousand) years ago?
NO MORE BIG SPOILERS
On the plus side, the design of the tripods was perfect, and they were suitably terrifying when coming over the hill towards the ferry and in the cities. The noise they made was great too, and the way they emitted smoke was nicely remniscent of the story's turn-of-the-century origins.
It was surprising dark at times. I agree the first heat ray scene was horrifying and pretty remniscent of 9/11. If I'm not mistaken, the beams were literally chopping people to bits, with arms and legs flying all around. And the crowd scene that Devin mentions in his review is remarkably pessimistic for Spielberg and unfortunately rings very true.
All-in-all, it's probably worth seeing, but I didn't find it very satisfying, and in many ways, it frustrated me immensely.
