Ummm... perhaps you can clarify this point on the Spielberg version for me then, since you cite it as being one of the defining 'great' things about that version:
Why would the aliens visit Earth long enough to bury their highly advance War Machines and then leave, rather than just taking over when they first arrived and there wasn't any opposition? Isn't this rather like saying we should have buried M1 Abrams tanks in the Iraqi desert during the first Gulf War, just in case we might need to use them there again? How embarrassing would it have been to the aliens if they'd returned to Earth only to find we'd descovered their hidden War Machines. "Resistance is futile! You have no ... aw hell, get out of that! You weren't supposed to find those! C'mon!"
If aliens coming out of the sky is too old of an idea, maybe they should have looked around for a more plausible idea than the one they actually used.
I'll admit, Cruise did a good job playing against type, but since when is a deadbeat dad in War of the Worlds, anyway? Howell's character was appropriately thoughtful and played terrifically.
Visual... well, if you like the shiney, sure, Spielberg wins. But you know what? All the shininess in the world doesn't make up for a terrible script, which is just what the Spielberg film was dealing with; a terrible script.
Suspense? Ah, no. The version with C. Thomas Howell was far more suspenseful, and far less predictable than the Spielberg version. While I watched the Spielberg version I could tell you exactly what was going to happen after I watched the main characters for 5 minutes. Was there ever any doubt the teenage boy would show up in the end of the film? Nope. Was there ever any doubt that Cruise and company would escape the Ferry? Nope.
Aliens... Why should it matter whether they looked like bugs? Admittedly, I wish this version would have stuck with the Tripod walkers, but the aliens hardly matter in and of themselves.
No, this version of War of the Worlds addresses itself to the same issues that Wells did: The arrogance of man, and the necessity of even the most trivial creatures in the environment. It wasn't a pop-psychology lesson in parenting but with 50% more explosions, like all of Spielbergs science fiction films seem to have degenerated into.
Oh, and to the person who wnated to know what the deal was with the anti-rabies vaccine? Vaccines are generally made up of of the disease itself, in small doses, so that the body can develop the necessary antibodies to combat the disease. The aliens were not capable of creating antibodies for diseases and illnesses that evolved on Earth, so they were fatal to them. Makes 100% perfect sense.
Have a nice day.
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