The thing you have the remember about War of the Worlds, is the time the book was written, abrupt endings like that were acceptable. However, that in mind, I still say the movie was average. Entertaining, but average.
I heard they wanted to make the film three hours long, but it was cut down to one hour, fifty minutes. I suppose that may have done something to the overall quality.
Oh, and TIS, as far as the bird thing goes...
***SPOILER****
The tripods were not immune to Earth's diseases. It wasn't neccisarily the birds that killed them off, but more so they germs they held.
***END SPOILER***
"Somebody told me when the bomb hits, everybody in a two mile radius will be instantly sublimated, but if you lay face down on the ground for some time, avoiding the residual ripples of heat, you might survive, permanently fucked up and twisted like you're always underwater refracted. But if you do go gas, there's nothing you can do if the air that was once you is mingled and mashed with the kicked up molecules of the enemy's former body. Big-kid-tested, motherf--ker approved."
