I was watching Spielberg's War of the Worlds today and I still feel that the last 1/3 of the film should've been different.

I loved the tripods, especially the emergence of the first tripod that Ray sees. Watching that scene in the cinema was just pure magic. And then the wide-scale attack, with Ray and his children on the run.

I did go into the cinema thinking WOTW was going to be something like Independence Day but about 30 minutes into the film, I realised that this was a story from an ordinary person's point of view. And I really enjoyed this new perspective. Totally loved the panic sequences and the chaos that usually follows any sort of catastrophe.

It got better. The film became darker (not just literally). Starting from the fight for Ray's vehicle. Disaster brings out the best and the worst in people. And then the basement scene with the lunatic Ogilvy. The scene was creepy, but not in the conventional 'horror' sense. Running from aliens attempting to vaporize everything in its way was one thing. But getting trapped with someone who has clearly lost his marbles, jeopardizing the secrecy of their hideout is like some sort of worst case scenario.

Another stunning scene was when Ray rushes out into the open to look for Rachel. The entire landscape had become covered with red weed obviously to provide a habitable environment for the aliens. Better still, the 'plants' (if you can call them that) were being fertilised with human blood.

After this, the tone of the film seemed to change to a much lighter mood. I don't know if it would've made WOTW a better film but I very much preferred the scary and bleak atmosphere that Spielberg created in the first one and a half hours. The film could've kicked so much ass (for me anyway) if it had a darker ending.