When my husband told me that Amazon had adapted H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds, told from the perspective of rapper and musician Ice Cube in front of a webcam, along with the video calls he takes, and that it debuted to a 0% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes (which has now risen to 3%), I knew I was sat.
Why? There’s a difference between being disappointed by a film and laughing to the point of tears because it’s so bad. This movie falls into the latter category, and people are getting wind of it, with War of the Worlds climbing into Prime Video’s top ten most-watched list.
Before I get into my observations and criticisms, I’m not a filmmaker. I don’t doubt that many people behind this project worked long, hard hours and put in all their effort, and I can’t say with confidence that I would have done a better job. I might even guess that, at some point in the filmmaking, they decided to lean into the chaos and, instead of making a mediocre film, made a phenomenally abysmal one.
In either case, everyone who worked on this movie can take comfort in the fact that it has the potential to be as beloved as Tommy Wiseau’s cult hit The Room, and that’s certainly not a bad thing.
There’s a difference between being disappointed by a film and laughing to the point of tears because it’s so bad
Where do I even begin?
War of the Worlds is a classic novel that has been adapted many times. I’ve personally seen the 2005 Steven Spielberg film starring Tom Cruise, and Jeff Wayne’s musical adaptation that’s been running since the 1970s.
Both of those take some creative liberties, but this adaptation from Amazon went for an even more unorthodox route.
Ice Cube plays Will Radford, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officer working the ‘graveyard shift’, which according to timestamps on his computer is 9am to 5pm. Despite the huge office he works in, he has no other colleagues to keep him company.
And that’s surprising, seeing as this computer whizz has access to and control over seemingly every camera, drone, car, smartphone and other gadget by simply right-clicking and overriding systems with a few lines of code and the computer app TeamViewer (which I’m sure that IT professionals will agree, is not how it works).
Seemingly, he starts his day by clicking around the United States map at random, checking for ‘threats’, with his little checkbox system telling him if someone is safe.
You’re probably thinking, ‘That’s a lot of power for one man to have’ – and you’re right. But surely, he’s dedicated to his job and only uses those surveillance skills for the safety of his country… right?
Ice Cube is the world’s worst dad and employee
Within the first few minutes of this apparently very important US Government job, we discover that Ice Cube is using his cameras instead to spy on his pregnant daughter, Faith, as she goes about her day.
This starts with him calling her on WhatsApp and berating her for her breakfast choices, which he learns after hacking into a cafe’s security system and seeing what she orders. When she quite rightfully claps back, he then reveals that he even knows the contents of her fridge, because he has cameras set up all over her home, with one feed ickily showing her bedroom, a space she shares with her boyfriend, Mark.
…from the beginning, it’s hard to want to root for this man
He also has a strained relationship with his son, Dave. We see him hacking into Dave’s computer and telling him off for spending too much time gaming. The pair bicker about data privacy and end the call frostily. Both of these plot points predictably come up later.
So, from the beginning, it’s hard to want to root for this man. He also seems to doss at work constantly, ignoring calls from important government officials. These include ‘Sandra NASA’, played by Desperate Housewives alumna Eva Longoria, and ‘DHS Director Briggs’ of the FBI, portrayed by Clark Gregg – a familiar face to anyone who’s watched Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
He finally starts paying attention to his job when aliens invade. That’s when he starts using his surveillance skills to try to direct his children to safety. This includes one baffling moment when he tells his pregnant daughter, who has just been severely injured and sprinted away from aliens, that her heartbeat is too high (because he can access wearable data instantly as well, apparently).
It’s 105 BPM. As a pregnant woman myself, my heartbeat hits those highs climbing stairs, never mind running for my life. If you ask me, it’s not high enough.
Just when you think this man has learned the error of his ways, he brings up the fact that he’s not been invited to his daughter’s baby shower… as she bleeds out in a driverless Tesla with a shard of metal lodged in her leg.
And this feeling of tonal dissonance is present throughout the film.
Details and nuance? Forget about it
Imagine for a moment how you would react if Earth went to war against giant aliens. Whatever you’re picturing, I doubt it’s the same as what Ice Cube does, or what anyone in this movie does, for that matter.
Amazon Prime Video/Universal
When the army takes down one of these terrifying mechs, he whoops and hollers as though his NFL team had just scored a touchdown, exclaiming “WOO! Hell yeah” and “Take your intergalactic asses… back home!” as he points at the ceiling. Keep in mind that this is a very high-ranking analyst in the US Government.
There’s a very ironic moment when Ice Cube starts watching a reporter from Fox News, who is standing in the middle of a field with the caption ‘TAKE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY. DO NOT GO OUTSIDE’. Seconds later, the area she is standing in is blown up.
And it’s not just baffling performances. The editing and set dressing are equally carelessly executed.
At one point, we see Faith’s boyfriend Mark ‘driving’ frantically to get to his injured partner. Except, when you look out his window, the scenery isn’t moving at all. He’s very clearly sitting stationary in a car park, jerking the wheel back and forth like a crazy person. We also see footage of a room impacted by an earthquake, except it’s very obviously just the camera shaking – nothing shown on the table moves even a millimetre.
The aliens themselves are obsessed with ‘government data centres’ from across the globe, and we can see feeds from different locations, such as Dallas, Taipei and London. I immediately took notice of that last one. As someone who lives in this city, I know that building is not in London or even the UK… and I know that because I’ve visited it.
It’s a concert hall in Reykjavik, Iceland. Here are some side-by-side shots of the building from War of the Worlds, and one of my Icelandic holiday in 2021.
There are too many wild choices in this film to list: sloppy writing, such as police warrants being sent via WhatsApp and the aliens specifically targeting old Facebook posts for some reason, as well as continuity nightmares, such as spilt coffee disappearing from Ice Cube’s fleece in a split second.
But 2025’s War of the Worlds also falls victim to a greater threat. Capitalism.
I have never seen such egregious Amazon product placement
If you thought Apple TV+ using iPhones and MacOS software in most of its shows was bad, you’ve truly seen nothing.
One of the heroes of this film is Faith’s boyfriend Mark, who also happens to be a Prime delivery driver. Despite the fact that Ice Cube is able to take personal WhatsApp calls and completely flout all the security measures in place for his job, he doesn’t have access to a USB flash drive.
But never fear, our lord and saviour Amazon is here – with Amazon Prime Air’s drone delivery service able to get it straight to the government headquarters immediately… despite the listing page saying that the quickest delivery would be the following day.
Hannah Cowton-Barnes / Foundry
At one point, the drone with the flash drive crashes and must be turned upright. Our team of shill protagonists spot a homeless man and hack his phone to get him to help out.
He’s reluctant at first, but quickly changes his mind when he’s bribed with a $1,000 Amazon gift card… which, as a YouTube comment on this sketch from Man Carrying Things points out, recipients need a fixed address to receive. And, as another commenter states, the aliens somehow destroyed currency earlier in the film, so the card holds no value anyway.
There are repeated criticisms over the Government “spying on people’s Amazon carts” – not about them harvesting sensitive data such as bank records and personal identification, or creepily watching their fridges and bedrooms. There are also several instances of footage on Ring doorbells.
Why you should watch Ice Cube’s War of the Worlds
The essay above only covers a fraction of some of the hilariously bad things about this movie, and that alone should make you want to watch it right now.
I ended the experience in a similar state to how I felt after watching Jason Statham in A Working Man (which was also made by Amazon, how coincidental): full of joy with the urge to write this article and share my experience with our readers.
Ice Cube’s War of the Worlds is one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen, and I know I’ll be consuming every op-ed and meme about it for the next few weeks at least. The level of entertainment is unparalleled. Go watch it.