Starring: Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Justin Chatwin, Tim Robbins
Director: Steven Spielberg
Category: IIA
The hope with War of the Worlds was that the master of entertainment, director Steven Spielberg, would produce one out of the box, a return to the sort of popcorn crowd-pleaser that established his credentials in the 1970s with the likes of Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
And the signs leading up to this release had been pure Spielberg. The shoot was veiled in secrecy, the marketing machine had given us tantalising glimpses of what was to come. But most of it remained a mystery. And the guessing games have filled newspaper column centimetres for months.
Those more cynical might suppose that the studio's careful campaign has been hiding something more sinister than a beastie from outer space could ever hope to be - a box office bomb. So at least War of the Worlds brings with it a sense of anticipation. And for that we can be grateful. Whether you think it's been worth all the fuss is another matter.
