I am not a huge fan of Cruise. I think that his movies aren't much intellectual exercise and he is one of those actors who can only portray themselves (i.e. Barbra Streisand). That said, I hope very much WOTW proves me wrong.

Here are some suggestions I have for Mr. Cruise and whoever makes this film.

1.Do not update the story to contemporary America.
WHY: Digital effects can now the do the job inexpensively.
There is no reason to set the film in today's world unless you want to add "hip-hop" flavor to the film which is totally inappropriate. I already saw that remake (Independence Day) and it sucked!

2.Do not drop the social commentary that Wells made.
WHY: What made WOTW frightening is not so much the destruction of mankind, but how mankind reacted to its destruction. Religion was blasted by Wells in the book, but in the 1953 movie, the story was given a religous overlay that suggested that mankind was god's favorite species and he saved us from destruction because we worshiped him (something the martains apparently didn't do).
WOTW was a scathing indictment of colonialism. If we (Industrialized nations) could use our technology to visit a foreign land, enslave the population and pillage the natural resources through force of arms, why couldn't martians do the same? They were no more evil than we were/are. Truly food for thought.

3.Be as faithful to the book as is possible.
WHY: There is a reason that WOTW is still in print more than 100 years after is was written and Wells' works are still being made into movies. He was a great writer and visionary. He saw the truth of things and wrote about them, but with a turn that often suprised the reader into thinking about *gasp* themselves and the society in which they lived.

Should the makers of this film require any additional insights as to what would make their film better (IMHO) I invite them to contact me. My consulting rates are reasonable (for Hollywood that is) :)

I also invite differening opinions and suggestions on this topic.

Keep sneezing!