-Mild Spoilers-
Just saw this flick with a few of my buddies & had an absolute blast. Man, Spielberg has nailed this one, after a form slump with The Terminal, A.I. & to a lesser extent Minority Report, he returns to top notch form. The pacing at the start is perfect, spot on, and when the tripods land.. and.. err.. rise, the action is unrelenting, totally immersive Spielberg cinema of days gone past. :)
The film is centered around Ray & his family, and the action rarely strays from any one of them, you see the destruction how they would. Some of the major scenes are somewhat teased, sure Spielberg could've had an all out major CGI money shot with the military battle against the tripods over the hills, but he keeps the auidence on Ray, and Ray never ventures over them there hills. So it was an incredibly ballsy choice, which may or may not sit well with some people.
The second half of the flick has some minor pacing problems & well, the ending felt a little too upbeat and a tad anti-climatic for my tastes, though obviously in line with the source material, I felt it was just a bit too happy of an ending in an overbearingly dark & conforting film. I think the 'Robbie thing' will definitely leave some divided, myself included. ;)
But overall this is one of the best films I'll probably see this year, and definitely one of Spielberg 's best in quite some time.
4/5 Stars for me.