Steven Spielberg is no longer flying the friendly skies. Forget cuddly spacemen who want to phone home. Don't expect close encounters with wispy, glow-in-the-dark aliens who want only to understand and bond with you.

This time, Spielberg mainly wants to scare you — and that's a skill he's honed since "Jaws."

"War of the Worlds" is based on the H.G. Wells classic novel and it gives more than one nod to the 1950s movie version as well.

It also showcases Spielberg's respect for the family unit and his fascination with what happens when the extraordinary intrudes on the ordinary. Moreover, there are topical references to terrorism and armies of occupation that are hardly coincidental.

But basically this is a thrill ride — and Spielberg has a firm grip on the throttle.

Tom Cruise plays Ray Ferrier, a divorced dockworker whose life is about as messy as his house. He agrees to take the kids for a weekend while his former wife and her new husband travel to Boston.

Ray is not really in touch with his children. Rachel, the youngest, has better parenting skills than he does. And Robbie, the teen-age son, is sullen and resentful. The outlook for Ray's weekend is not promising, but odd weather conditions distract him from his troublesome children. Weird cloud formations throw out lightning bolts at startling intervals.

Ray is at first fascinated. Then the ground splits open and a giant three-pronged machine emerges and Ray listens to his flight instincts.

He and the kids head for Boston via the boonies, and they discover that fear has already begun its vicious attack on the principles of a civilized society in ways that would vindicate the bleak Hobbesian assessment of mankind.

By then it's clear that the invaders seek the eradication of humankind in a single-minded and malevolent way that leaves the landscape literally soaked in blood.

Cruise is a likable and convincing actor, and he shows the kind of vulnerability that only parents know. He's heroic but not a super hero. Justin Chatwin as the truculent son is appropriately aggravating. Dakota Fanning as Rachel has the child-wise-beyond-her-years trick down cold. But she screams way too much and that becomes a major irritant.

The special effects are astonishing, as should be expected. But Spielberg stays true to the Wells book in the story's salient points; audiences who don't know the book may find the ending anti-climactic. Spielberg did the right thing, though, and should be commended for it.

War of the Worlds

Four stars. Showing nearly everywhere. Rated PG-13 for violence, language and intensity. Two hours, 15 minutes.