A remake to H.G Welles classic story The War of the Worlds has been released direct to Amazon Prime, produced by Universal Studios.
This new version of the classic Sci-fi tale tackles the idea of governmental corruption and the fear of constant surveillance. However, any commentary falls flat due to the films unbearably bad presentation, and its rampant product placement.
Ice Cube leads the cast of the remake, with his face placed across every piece of promo material. It’s clear that the goal with the film was to hook fans of Ice Cube into watching it.
Even the series’ infamous ‘Tri-Pod’ aliens don’t get the screen time they deserve. Instead the film centres itself on Ice Cube’s computer as he navigates cameras around the world to witness the destruction of earth.
There’s plenty of other films that take on the “desktop point-of-view” and do it fairly well. 2020’s Host is a great example of the concept executed to near perfection. Unsurprisingly, War of the Worlds (2025) fails to explore the concept in an original way.
Before the aliens invade, the film is unreasonably dull. Ice Cube’s failure to convey even the slightest bit of believable emotion hampers any chance for the audience to feel something for him and his family.
His family especially are left in the dark for the most of the film. With one scene having Ice Cube’s lead character’s daughter on the brink of death calling for him. But instead of staying on call with her he leaves on mute and continues to stare through CCTV cameras.
It’s difficult to say anything about a film that is as bad as this, it’s obvious in a way that most films aren’t.
There’s a good conversation to be had around the idea of films that are objectively good or bad. Many would lean on the side of subjectivity. However if there’s one film that is objectively bad, it’s War of the Worlds (2025).
Featured Image Credit: Universal Pictures