Where were these guys when Cruise was hopping around on Oprah?: "War of the Worlds"

You know you're in trouble when the movie ends and you think, "Geez, the most believable thing was the aliens ... "

Talk about a letdown. I might not have been as pumped for this as other summer offerings, i.e. "Batman Begins." But for something that had both Spielberg and Cruise -- the duo behind the intelligent and excellent "Minority Report" -- attached, "War" was a disappointment. Plenty of cool death and destruction, sure, but when it comes to the story and performances, what some people might say was elemental and lean I considered one-note. Not a good sign when the 10-year-old is acting circles around everyone.

Our plot: Divorced father Cruise has his kids -- the 10-year-old girl and teenage boy -- for the weekend just as weird atmospheric stuff starts happening, and then the aliens attack. This part wasn't so bad, especially with the aliens attacking from under out feet! (Hence one tagline, "They're Already Here." Cool special effects, even if this unprovoked attack runs along the same lines of "Independence Day." (And yes, I know H.G. Wells wrote "War of the Worlds" way before that.)

From there we watch Cruise and kids flee the aliens, only to have the baddies catch up every now and then. Unfortunately, the movie starts to get uneven, with some grand scenes of destruction (good) interspersed with the family's quiet worry and Cruise's wrestling with the situation (not so much). I understood the family/emotional stuff -- bad father tries to do his kids right for once -- but I didn't really buy it. And since I don't recall this being a central part of Wells' story, the deficiency may lie with Spielberg.

Another drawback is the abundance of holes in the whole story of the alien attack. In other words, a whole lot of questions, but not many answers. Worse, there doesn't seem to be much interest in finding those answers. I don't want to give away the ending, but it wasn't very satisfying, which essentially left me regarding "War" as a collection of scenes. There's nothing wrong with B-movie sci-fi, and like I said, really cool effects and a nice job of creating a sense of terror and panic, especially when the alien machines really go to town. But c'mon, Steve and Tom ... you can do better than this. The human race is depending on you!

NOTE: Due to a particularly wicked stretch of travel, I likely won't be able to post anything for at least a week, maybe a little longer. I'll do my best to find time on the road, if you want to check this site every now and then. No promises, though, and consider yourself warned.