War of the Worlds 2025 Movie Review
WAR OF THE WORLDS tells an alien invasion story that was originally published in 1897 by H. G. Wells but adapted to the 21st century. One notable and infamous adaptation prior to this film was a 1938 radio broadcast by Orson Welles which caused a mass panic because people thought the invasion it described was real. I suspect the success of that version in convincing people of the reality of the story might have helped convince the filmmakers to tell this story here as a so-called screenlife movie.
For those who don’t know, a screenlife movie usually plays out entirely on a computer or smartphone screen, depicting a protagonist as they interact remotely with other people. This format has been mainly applied to the horror and thriller genres, and some of the resulting movies are truly impressive. If you want to see how far this format can be pushed, I recommend the thriller SEARCHING (2018) and/or the horror movies THE DEN (2013) or HOST (2020).
Anyway, this newest adaptation of Wells’ story turns out to be wildly uneven: on the plus side, it does contain interesting examples of how the government could in principle surveil and track you, and it has some suspenseful passages. On the minus side, Ice Cube is badly miscast as a senior domestic surveillance analyst, the story not only has a ton of plot holes, but is actually incoherent in some respects (For example, the protagonist is able to reroute cell phone call via satellite, but about 20 minutes later we are told that the entire satellite network had been taken down two days earlier. There are also a lot of cringy scenes, surprisingly crappy special effects, especially in the second half, and the nod-nod-wink-wink condemnation of consumerism, including of that offered by Amazon, of this Amazon-produced movie, rings hollow in light of blatant product placements.
Ice Cube is actually doubly miscast for the role: First, the way he acts is not at all like what one would expect from such an high-ranking government official. Second, it appears that many of this fans do not like (o are unfamiliar with)with screenlife movies, so the casting likely attracted the wrong crowd.
I like found footage and screenlife movies, so I could enjoy parts of the movie, but I realize that many others might not. But even my enjoyment has its limit because the flaws of this movie are so irritating. Overall, a mediocre effort, and unless you are a fan of the format, I’d recommend watching the much better Steven Spielberg version.
