“It may be difficult to say something nice about the Martians, but we feel compelled to try. Even H. G. Wells, whose extraterrestrials in his 1898 novel, The War of the Worlds, were as frightening as those in Steven Spielberg’s new film version, gave those horrific beings their due. And much depends on how they are understood, for the Martians, as everyone knows, are also metaphors. They may even have some connections with Mr. Spielberg’s next film and its views of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

…Perhaps that idea of terrorists with a cause and defenders with doubts influenced the discomfort felt in the current film as well. At any rate, the novel was more rigorous. It saw the similarities between victim and attacker but also what was at stake and what effect the attacks ultimately had. Through them, Wells writes, humanity was robbed ‘of that serene confidence in the future which is the most fruitful source of decadence.'” (New York Times )