The aliens are looking to slaughter everyone in Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds (Paramount, 6.29) and, of course, the film doesn’t bother to explain their motive. In a current Newsweek piece, Spielberg says “having no idea why they’re killing hundreds of thousands of people is scarier than having them arrive, make an announcement and then go to work.” At least screenwriter David Koepp makes a stab at an explanation. “I think the whole war is about water,” he says. “I figure their planet ran out. Wars tend to be fought over very elemental things: water, land, oil.”
