War of the Worlds (2005 film) has grossed $704,745,540 including DVD sales, making it the fourth highest grossing film of 2005, and the 66th highest grossing film worldwide. The film received generally positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator website Metacritic gave the film an average score of 73 based on 40 reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gives "War of the Worlds" a 75% "certified fresh" rating based on 255 reviews and the critical consensus: "Steven Spielberg's adaptation of War of the Worlds delivers on the thrill and paranoia of H.G. Wells' classic novel while impressively updating the action and effects for modern audiences." James Berardinelli praised the acting
The War of the Worlds a draper. Trained as a scientist, he was able to relate his experiences of struggle to Darwin's idea of a world of struggle; but perceived science as a rational system, which extended beyond traditional ideas of race, class and religious notions, and in fiction challenged the use of science to explain political and social norms of the day. Good and evil appear relative in "The War of the Worlds", and the defeat of the Martians has an entirely material cause: the action of microscopic bacteria. An insane clergyman is important in the novel, but his attempts to relate the invasion