War of the Worlds · reception & legacy

2005 · Steven Spielberg

How War of the Worlds has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

In 2005 it was a monster hit that critics shrugged at and fans grumbled about — the discourse got swallowed whole by Tom Cruise jumping on Oprah's couch mid-press-tour. Twenty years on it's been thoroughly reappraised as one of Spielberg's darkest, best films: the definitive post-9/11 blockbuster.

What's debated

Everyone agrees the first two acts are terrifying masterclass Spielberg — the fight is over whether the ending (especially that Boston reunion) is a cop-out or the point.

Its footprint

The tripod foghorn blast and Tom Cruise discovering he's coated in human ash are two of the most referenced images in 2000s blockbuster cinema — shorthand for how mainstream movies processed 9/11.

Where it stands

A textbook canon climber: once filed under 'minor Spielberg with a bad ending,' now a Letterboxd favourite routinely ranked among his 21st-century best.

★ Did you know? Gene Barry and Ann Robinson — the stars of the 1953 War of the Worlds — appear as the grandparents at the end, and the whole film was shot in a breakneck 72 days, going from start of production to release in under a year.

Named by the director

Influences Steven Spielberg has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

The War of the Worlds (1953) — Spielberg spoke often about the George Pal version terrifying him as a kid, and paid it direct homage by casting its two stars in cameos.