We know now that in the early years of the twentieth century this world was being watched closely by intelligences greater than man's, and yet as mortal as his own. We know now that as human beings busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinized and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinize the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water.

If you're wondering what the hell I'm blathering about, these are the very words that began the original broadcast of Orson Welles' The War Of The Worlds. Certainly gripped it's audience with fear ; some decided to leg it off this mortal coil. Because Welles had so cleverly interspersed his story with Ramón Raquello's pacifying music, the invasion events seemed so real, so close to home.

More than 60 years later, we see Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise remake this epic. They manage to carry through the same, cold, gripping fear that the original left it's audiences with.

Cruise also stars as a divorced blue collar worker, who's looking after the kids while his ex goes away to visit relatives. Meanwhile, a bizarre storm settles upon his home town, which leaves earth-shattering results. Literally. The entire area ( and rest of the world, we are led to believe, even though it's all shot in the USA ) is taken over by menacing extra-terrestrial tripods, destroying everything in sight.

If you're expecting another Armageddon or Independence Day ; forget it. This re-make blows previous disaster films completely out of the water, by simply removing all the cheese out of it. Even though there's a happy ending ( crap, i've ruined it now! the butler did it.. ), there's no feel-good at all. None of the gung-ho attitude "let's get 'em!", a quote from the film itself seems to say it all - "this isn't a war - it's an extermination".

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