Well, this story (book and 50’s movie) has been in my mind since I was a kid, a reference for all other stories about aliens taking over Earth. I was hopeful that Spielberg’s version would be the great alien invasion movie, some kind of grandiose version of the book’s idea.

Instead, we got a pretty standard movie, with kids, dysfunctional family, some watered-down horror and some simplistic action. Not bad, but I didn’t feel immersed at any point throughout the movie. A collection of things, if you want, some of them good, some not so. Which actually sums up my view of most of Spielberg’s movies.

Read this from a review in imdb, which is interesting and worth repeating: “Spielberg’s camera is always running away, afraid to look at the destruction, panning away from the effects, terrified! And what’s terrific is that this new “eye” suits the story”

This man’s right, the movie does not look at all like other movies, just like the filming in Saving Private Ryan was unique and trend-setting. However, I’m not 100% sure that this innovation in style actually improves the end result.

In other news, Batman Begins was much more engaging and entertaining.