Most action films since that tragedy have involved either comic book characters, historic battles or ancient civilisations. But this movie on intergalactic war, starring Tom Cruise might be too realistic for its own good. The film takes perhaps a little too much glee in its abilities to manufacture mayhem. That being said, the ride is extraordinary.

Spielberg and his writers, Josh Friedman and David Koepp, opt to tell the invasion story through the eyes of Tom Cruise's character Ray Ferrier, a blue-collar guy with no plan of action other than the protection of his loved ones. It is a three-character drama with the world literally crashing down around their ears.

But its how the world falls apart that amazes. At one point, an airline plunges to earth, but one can see only the heart-rending aftermath, as the protagonists have hidden in the basement next to the crash site. In another scene, a train roars past a crowd of fleeing refugees with each and every car consumed in flames. Then there is a ferry-boat, which aliens upend, spilling cars and people into the dark waters.

The writers retain several key elements from Wells' novel. An opening narration, gravely yet coolly voiced by Morgan Freeman echoes the ominous first lines from the novel, telling us that in the first years of the 21st century across the gulf of space, our world was being watched closely by intelligence greater than man's, who "regarded our planet with envious eyes."

Also the movie's death machines, the so-called Tripods, resemble the 100-foot-tall killing machines envisioned by Wells. And Spielberg's aliens, like Wells', suck blood from living humans for sustenance. This results in a startling image of a surreal, blood-sprayed, ruined landscape that is grotesque and fascinating at the same time.

The main humanising element in the movie is the team of Tom Cruise, as Ray and the young prodigy Dakota Fanning, as Ray's daughter Rachel. They play off the rise and fall of each other's emotions, each trying to coax the other into a false sense of security when the reality of their situation denies any such notion. If Ray didn't have a child to protect, he probably would be as lost as the mobs that surge haphazardly this way and that. With these two, its not always clear who is the child and who the adult, as the actors continually switch those roles in a juggling act of tense emotions.

Compiled by Cultural Correspondent