War of the Worlds 2005

War of the Worlds is a 2005 American epic science fiction disaster film and a loose adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds, directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Josh Friedman and David Koepp. It stars Tom Cruise as Ray Ferrier, a divorced dock worker estranged from his children (Dakota Fanning and Justin Chatwin) and living separately from them. As his ex-wife drops their children off for him to look after for a few days, the planet is attacked by aliens that come up out of the ground (loosely based on H. G. Wells' Martians) driving Tripods and as Earth's armies are defeated, Ray tries to protect his children and flee to Boston to rejoin his ex-wife.
       A narrator explains that in the beginning, humans were unaware that intelligent beings were watching them, and making plans to eradicate them. Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) is a divorced crane operator at a New Jersey port, estranged from his children. His ex-wife, Mary Ann (Miranda Otto), later drops off the children, 10-year old Rachel (Dakota Fanning) and teenager Robbie (Justin Chatwin), on her way to visiting her parents in Boston. Meanwhile T.V. reports tell of bizarre lightning storms knocking out power all over Europe. Robbie takes Ray's car out without his permission. Ray is searching for him when he notices a strange wall cloud, which shoots powerful lightning strikes, disabling all electronic devices in the area, including cars, forcing Robbie to come back. Ray heads down the street to investigate. He stops at a garage and tells the mechanic Manny to replace the solenoid on a dead car.
Initial release: June 29, 2005 (USA)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Adapted from: The War of the Worlds
Narrator: Morgan Freeman
Screenplay: David Koepp, Josh Friedman