For me, the problem was that the movie had already been made less than ten years previously, and was called Independence Day. War of the Worlds knew it would have to go in a radically different direction to bring something new to the table, so it focuses on one family.

This is a problem because it almost feels like the alien invasion and eventual defeat is a subplot compared to divorced dad Ray Ferrier (Cruise) trying to reconnect with his wayward children. For the record, I quite liked Tom Cruise in this, and he's believable as a person with flaws: we can say why his marriage didn't work out. I didn't even mind his brats that much - they're complete basket cases, like a lot of kids are in real life. The only thing that let the movie down was its tendency to pull its punches at the last minute. (That's a longwinded and fancy way of saying they should have >!let the brother character die.!< It would be a much better and darker movie if Spielberg had the balls to follow through with that one.)