LKH Lashouts

In a lot of ways War of the Worlds is more of a survival movie than a scifi movie because it is about a normal guy trying to survive through these extraordinary events. He's not a scientist, he's not a soldier, he's any guy you could pull off the street and there's very little he can do against the alien onslaught, but the inability of humans to fight the aliens is ultimately important to the story. This makes the story compelling when you're reading it since you have his narration to help pull you into his struggle for day to day survival. However it makes him seem more passive in the movie versions since you don't know what he's thinking or feeling.

The difference with Anita is that she isn't some random person you can pull off the street. She's supposed to be a powerful force and her ability to fight the supernatural is important to the story. The early books often explored where the line between human and monster was and how close she was to crossing it at times. Now, she just lets things happen as they will and no greater theme is being served by this. All the themes have been dropped in favor of bad porn. The most Anita will do anymore is go to another city when required after that she just sits back, feeds the arduer, and then waits for the enemy to be killed off screen. In War of the Worlds they might have been hiding in a basement but there was a lot of tension, drama and even a murder down there.