I don't care if it is like that because of the book, I still disliked those aspects of the movie and the fact that any of them were in the book really isn't gonna make me suddenly like those aspects of the movie, just dislike the book. The father/son part was him being a jerk and the kid hating him, and because the kid had no faith in his father he took off. Prolly the most annoying thing is the fact that this movie prolly didn't even need to show the aliens tripods and it woulda been same thing. They coulda just alluded to the attack and showed aftermath and nothing would have really changed except tom cruise wouldn't have had to detroy one or have the giant hide and seek session in the house, if it was advertised this way it would be one thing but the commercials are all about the aliens and getting to the theater for what I saw was a major let down just because of that.. I was told to "Prepare for the event that would change my world"...was that tom cruise becoming a good dad was that the event?