Humans deploy their tanks and jets to fight off alien invaders in Steven Spielberg’s 2005 sci-fi thriller, but what unfolds isn’t really a war of the worlds. The third of the director’s alien encounter films, War of the Worlds initially appears similar to Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. And when the mothership appears over the mountain in Close Encounters, it’s everything the protagonist has dreamed of, crystallised right in front of him, his family long abandoned. and Close Encounters, who only sob when it’s time for their alien companions to leave, Rachel instinctively muffles her cries when she first sees a tripod. Paramount PicturesWar of the Worlds unfolds like a disaster film, with people who are dwarfed and helpless.