War of the Worlds (2025)

Rich Lee is a director whose career has been built largely in television, with credits across action-heavy streaming fare, and this 2025 production represents something of a side-step into low-budget theatrical territory. The title borrows from H. G. Wells's 1898 novel, though in name and premise only, grafting a surveillance-state thriller onto the brand rather than revisiting the alien-invasion source material in any faithful sense (previous adaptations include the 1953 George Pal production and Steven Spielberg's 2005 blockbuster). Made under the Bazelevs banner, a Russian-founded production company with a track record in modestly budgeted genre films, the project reportedly cost around ten million dollars, a figure that places it firmly in the territory of limited resources for a film carrying a major-title name.

I don’t even know where to begin. This isn’t just a bad film, it’s a surreal, jaw-dropping collapse of everything cinema stands for. Shot entirely on green screen during what appears to be a series of Zoom calls in someone’s basement, this so-called “reimagining” of War of the Worlds starring Ice Cube as a retired marine turned conspiracy podcaster feels less like a movie and more like a viral marketing prank that somehow got a budget. And a Prime Video release. The visuals are laughable. Aliens descend on Earth in ships that look like spinning disco balls made in Microsoft Paint. Explosions unfold behind characters who never react in real time. Backgrounds flicker, lighting makes no sense, and the “action” consists of Ice Cube shouting into a webcam while stock footage of cities burning plays in a corner of the screen. Dialogue is delivered with the intensity of a man reading a PowerPoint presentation, and honestly, that might be exactly what happened. There’s no story, no stakes, no logic. Just conspiracy rants, forced product placement (yes, someone actually says “I’ll order more ammo on Prime”). Is it satire? Is it incompetence? Or is it some cynical, meta experiment in “so bad it’s good” content farming? Given it’s an Amazon Prime exclusive, my money’s on the last one, a deliberately shoddy production designed to trend, get mocked on TikTok, and rack up views through sheer disbelief. It’s not just the worst War of the Worlds adaptation. It might be one of the most baffling things ever released under the label of “film.” A 0.5-star disaster, not because it’s offensive or harmful, but because it feels like cinema giving up. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. And I pray I never will again.

Rating: ½  | Year: 2025  | Watched: 2025-08-09

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Where to watch (UK)

Stream: Amazon Prime Video · Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Physical: Amazon UK

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