War of the Worlds (2005)

The first half was great.  The suspense was intense.  The lighting and the sound put me into the scene, and made me as uncomfortable as the people in the movie.  Characters were distinct, too.  Incompetent father, annoying teenager, and a young daughter.  I understood why each of them acted the certain way.  The alien's laser beam was scary.  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Then the second half went to poo.  The teenager abandoned his little sister when she needed him the most.  The alien's laser beam was replaced by sucking human blood.  It was never explained why.  The aliens traveled light years to arrive on Earth just so that their machine could be easily chopped up by earthling's puny axe.  The aliens with advanced technology did not know about different planets had different bacteria that could kill them.  Finally, the teenager survived without a scratch and everyone was happy, completely forgot his abandonement.  ⭐⭐

Overall, ⭐⭐⭐.  Worth a watch if it's free.