War of the Worlds (2005)

★ 6.5 1h 57m 9,081 votes IMDb
Sign in to rate this film

Ray Ferrier is a divorced dockworker and less-than-perfect father. Soon after his ex-wife and her new husband drop off his teenage son and young daughter for a rare weekend visit, a strange and powerful lightning storm touches down.

War of the Worlds

Where to Watch

Netflix Netflix Watch
Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video Watch
Disney Plus Disney Plus Watch
Max Max Watch
Hulu Hulu Watch
Paramount Plus Paramount Plus Watch
Apple TV Plus Apple TV Plus Watch
Peacock Peacock Watch
Crunchyroll Crunchyroll Watch
Tubi TV Tubi TV Watch
Pluto TV Pluto TV Watch
Plex Plex Watch

Rent / Buy

Rent

Apple TV Apple TV Rent
Google Play Movies Google Play Movies Rent
Amazon Video Amazon Video Rent
YouTube YouTube Rent
Vudu Vudu Rent
Fandango at Home Fandango at Home Rent

Buy

Apple TV Apple TV Buy
Google Play Movies Google Play Movies Buy
Amazon Video Amazon Video Buy
YouTube YouTube Buy
Vudu Vudu Buy
Fandango at Home Fandango at Home Buy

Cast

Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise as Ray Ferrier Age 63 · Syracuse, New York, USA Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962) is an American actor and film producer. Regarded as a Hollywood icon, he has received various accolades, including an Honorary Palme d'Or and three Golden...
Dakota Fanning
Dakota Fanning as Rachel Ferrier Age 32 · Conyers, Georgia, USA Hannah Dakota Fanning (born February 23, 1994) is an American actress. Fanning is known for her roles in blockbuster films and independent features, both as a child actor and as an adult. Her accolade...
Justin Chatwin
Justin Chatwin as Robbie Ferrier Age 43 · Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada Justin Chatwin (born October 31, 1982) is a Canadian actor. He began his career in 2001 with a brief appearance in the musical comedy Josie and the Pussycats. Following his breakthrough role as Robbie...
Miranda Otto
Miranda Otto as Mary-Ann Age 58 · Brisbane, Queensland, Australia Miranda Otto (born December 16, 1967) is an Australian actress. The daughter of actors Lindsay and Barry Otto and the sister of actress Gracie Otto, she began acting at age eighteen, and has performed...
Tim Robbins
Tim Robbins as Harlan Ogilvy Age 67 · West Covina, California, USA Timothy Francis Robbins (born October 16, 1958) is an American actor, screenwriter, director, producer, and musician. He is best known for his portrayal of Andy Dufresne in the prison drama film The S...
Rick Gonzalez
Rick Gonzalez as Vincent Age 46 · Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA ​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Rick Gonzalez (born June 30, 1979) is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Timo Cruz in the motion picture Coach Carter, and as Ben Gon...

Audience Reviews

Peter McGinn 8/10 Apr 05, 2020
I enjoyed this entry into the HG Wells film library. The special effects are great (to this amateur anyway) and the acting and action more than adequate. Plus it stays near enough to the sci-fi genius of the author to satisfy the fans of the classic novel. I will say that I got a little tired of the son acting like such a teenager, but he and the Tom Cruise character both show some character growth by the end of the film. Tom is one of those actors who seems to be playing himself a lot, but I suspect there is a lot more work to it than that. I'm not sure Dustin Hoffman would have gotten his Academy Award for Rain Man if he had played off a lesser actor than Cruise.

I think there are a couple of scenes the movie could have done without, such as in the cellar with Cruise, his daughter and the man who lived there. It slowed the story down, changed the tenor of the drama, and didn't add a lot, in my view. But it is what it is and overall I found War of the Worlds to be entertaining. Good science fiction movies can be hard to find.
JPV852 5/10 May 09, 2020
First time seeing this in 15 years and lame plot, annoying characters (both kids got on my nerves) and a protagonist who just runs around, as Tom Cruise does so well, but has zero impact on the end game which was... bacteria. Yeah, this was just as dumb today as it was back then. At least the visual effects and sound design still holds up. **2.5/5**
CinemaSerf 6/10 Feb 13, 2023
Sometimes it just pays to leave well alone, and this remake of the 1953 version adds nothing aside from more sophisticated special effects. A vehicle for Tom Cruse, it allows Stephen Spielberg to turn this menacing and thought-provoking sci-fi classic into a family melodrama with the star and his dysfunctional family travelling the breadth of the country trying to escape the terror that is falling from the skies. These metallic creations are ruthless, destroying everything in their path but somehow the emphasis of this is more on why "Ray" can't get on with "Robbie" (Justin Chatwin) and whether or not "Rachel" (Dakota Fanning) can keep hold of her childhood toy. The effects are good: the lasers and the pyrotechnics; the explosions and scenes of dereliction are impressive - but oddly enough, I found them less so than in the iteration made fifty years earlier. Lots of horrified expressions as the cast look longingly at green screens, some banal dialogue and we end up with a film about the people in/behind it rather than one about alien world domination. After almost two hours, the ending - and it's huge significance - is almost an afterthought to the boring story of who did what to whom over the years in the "Ferrier" family. Cruise can, at times, bring charisma to the screen. Here he brings little and I am afraid that I found this a triumph of commercialism over creativity and was cheerily egging on the aliens from fairly early on.
Rob 8/10 Jun 25, 2023
An intense, serious and harrowing portrayal of the H.G. Wells classic. Tom Cruise doing an excellent job of not being Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning out acting everyone. It's hard to call this film an enjoyable watch as it's actually emotionally affecting at times, with some very raw realism concerning human nature. This movie manages to keep a constantly high pace without being exhausting to watch. Well worth a place in your collection.

Similar Movies