War of the Worlds

Lightning never strikes in the same place twice. Or does it? H.G. Wells’ visionary 1898 sci-fi novel has had many incarnations – famously on radio by Orson Welles, on film in 1953, on TV and in comics – and now in Steven Spielberg’s contemporary American version with man of the moment megastar Tom Cruise doing his best to uphold family values. Wells’ attacking Martians have mutated into generic aliens, still operating from clumsy tripods, names and characters gave been changed, plot points modified and special effects tuned to new heights of technological sensurround perfection, but that still leaves the original horror premise of an invasion of the Earth by malevolent beings whose technology has the better of we earthlings for a time. A must see scary summer blockbuster from the unstoppable Spielberg – recently voted Best Director of All Time by readers of Empire Magazine.