War of the Worlds (2025) Was Bad

CAUTION: SPOILERS

I don’t even have a funny title. It was just bad. How can I not write about what is somehow collectively the worst movie anyone has ever seen? With its debut receiving a whopping 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, this movie deserves to be roasted.

If you’re looking for a movie to WOW you with how drastic the tables turn from a decent concept to an awful, immature, corny wannabe average-people-can-be-heros-too-type of deal, the new War of the Worlds is for you, baby.

Last week, Joe and I were browsing movies and, unfortunately, stumbled upon the new War of the Worlds starring Ice Cube of all people. Neither of us had heard anything about it. We didn’t even know anyone was making a new War of the Worlds movie. To be completely honest though, there never needs to be a recreation because the originals *actually* based on the H.G Wells novel are iconic themselves.

(Fun Fact: In 1938, there was a radio host, Orson Welles, who aired a radio adaptation of the H.G Wells novel and some listeners that tuned in late to the broadcast freaked tf out. People were calling authorities and leaving their homes thinking that we were actually under attack. I have harbored that info for a very long time and I think it’s cool and wanted to share.)

ANYWHO –

I was pretty excited to watch this, being that the War of the Worlds (2005, directed by Steven Spielberg) is one of my top 5 favorite movies ever. I felt that the perspective of the invasion from a DHS officer was intriguing. Utilizing drones, street cameras, and personal devices was unique and I always love a movie that films from different perspectives (peep my reviews about Skinamirink and Adolescence). But goodness gracious me did they lose the plot and lose it fast.

Let me break it down a bit –

Basically, a DHS officer who constantly spies on his kids using government technology is, you guessed it, spying on his kids (assuming that’s an intentional “the government is spying on you” subliminal message), while simultaneously answering calls from his co-workers. Meteors eventually fall out of the sky all around the world and Ice Cube is in a constant back and forth between calling his son, daughter, and co-workers trying to figure out what’s going on and if everyone is safe. It’s all kind of annoying.

I will say though, there were some cool moments where he hacked into cameras and other devices, even a Tesla, in order to get everyone into safe spaces away from the chaos. That is my final positive opinion of this movie.

(Another Fun Fact: Do you know this God awful movie’s Wikipedia page says it’s based on H.G Wells’ novel? IS THE INSPIRATION FROM THE NOVEL IN THE ROOM WITH US? Because I fear it was nowhere near the director or screenwriter when creating this disastrous movie. Pray for H.G Wells, who is currently rolling in his grave.)

We also get some details about someone called “The Disruptor”, who is an anonymous creator uploading YouTube videos about the government hiding things from the public (don’t remember that in the H.G Wells novel). Turns out The Disruptor is Ice Cube’s son and it’s supposed to be a “gotcha” moment for our MC. I guessed it was his son earlier in the movie based on the dynamic between the father and son in their conversations. It wasn’t very “gotcha” .. The only real use of this character was to tie into the abysmal underlying reason why the aliens have come to Earth.. and it’s.. well..

dumb.

The downfall is the twist of the invasion being at the fault of a singular government official. I don’t remember exactly what the explanation was and I don’t care that much to look it up, but I think it had something to do with the amount of energy something was giving off that appeared to be a threat from the aliens P.O.V. I think.

But brother. It’s War of the Worlds. The entire premise of the original movies (and the book) is the fear factor of Why Earth? Why us? Why now? What do they want? And for the plot to be defaulted to “humans are the real enemy” and “humans are greedy” is such nauseating, regurgitated bullshit. Literally from this moment, the movie takes such a sharp decline, it’s actually disorienting.

Joe and I kept questioning how we were bamboozled into watching this mockery of an iconic original classic. “This is actually so bad.” “How did we even get here?” We were completely blindsided by the hard left turn into oblivion and were so confused as to why the story-line turned into a comically bad wannabe superhero movie.

There’s just no excuse. It was terrible.

I’m trying to wrap this up, and I literally just said out loud, “I don’t even remember how it ended… Oh, God. I do. It’s awful.” While running my hands over my face. (Yes, I had to include this.)

Eventually, Ice Cube, his son, his daughter, his daughters boyfriend, and friend from NASA all work together and use an Amazon delivery drone to save the day. Barf.

THAT WAS THE OTHER THING. The unlimited Amazon plugs were so unreal. His daughter’s boyfriend was a delivery driver and the way they kept plugging Uncle Jeff’s biz was so obnoxious. And yes, this movie is on prime.

It’s like I want to write more about this, but also I honestly cannot think of anything else to touch on that isn’t going to be me just complaining of how horrendous this movie is.

Let’s just do it this way..

Overall:

• The dialogue is forced and cliche.
• The acting is sub-par and just awful.
• A lot of unnecessary pacing to fill up time.
• The big reveal was disappointing and lazy.
• The Amazon plugs were ridiculous.
• The only decent part was that it was a unique perspective, but this was ruined by the rest of the movie. There’s just no way to overlook everything else.
• This is nowhere near the premise of the novel and I have zero clue how they can say this movie was based on it.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we get invaded because of how terrible this film is just so the aliens can prove a point.

God bless if you want to see what the fuss is about, but honestly you’re better off doing literally ANYTHING ELSE with your life than sitting for 91 minutes through this travesty of a film.

I said what I said.
– Meg