8. War of the Worlds (2005), remake of The War of the Worlds (1953)

In 2005 Steven Spielberg remade the classic sci-fi movie about a terrifying alien invasion with all new special effects; significantly, he replaced the 1950s’ smooth, force-shielded craft with the three-legged tripod design that we know and love from the book. Tom Cruise may be pretty scary these days, but even he has to run away when faced with a race of ancient aliens who’ve had their giant killer death machines buried under the Earth’s cities for millions of years. Were they the angry minions of Xenu? And how would the alien race know that the planet’s population centers wouldn’t move during that time?

Anyway, ignoring such questions, the remake of The War of the Worlds is a fast, highly effective re-imagining of the original movie which more than does the H.G. Wells novel justice; and some especially great scenes show just how devastating an alien invasion would be for the people at ground level.