Fans were hoping for an epic alien showdown, but instead, the latest War of the Worlds movie is being seen as a cinematic catastrophe.
Despite having big names like Ice Cube and Eva Longoria in the credits, the latest adaptation of H.G. Wells’ science fiction novel was not the masterpiece viewers were hoping for.
“I'm not sure what possessed me to watch this (Ice Cube fandom, probably) but a 90 minute waterboarding session would be preferential to a second watching of it,” one commented online.
Highlights
- The latest 'War of the Worlds' was released on Prime Video on July 30.
- It didn’t take long for critics to slam the Rich Lee-directed movie, starring Ice Cube and Eva Longoria.
- Austin Burke, a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, quipped that the film was “in the discussion for worst movie of the decade so far.”
- Some called the movie “one big ad for Amazon” due to the product placements.
The latest War of the Worlds movie is being seen as a cinematic catastrophe
Image credits: WIRED
War of the Worlds debuted on Prime Video as the modern-day adaptation of the 1898 novel with the same title.
It didn't take long for critics to slam the Rich Lee-directed movie, starring Ice Cube, Eva Longoria, Clark Gregg, Andrea Savage, Henry Hunter Hall, Iman Benson, Devon Bostick and Michael O’Neill.
Image credits: IMDB
Much of the movie takes place on the computer screen of Will Radford (played by Ice Cube), who is a top cyber-security analyst at the Department of Homeland Security.
Will is dealing with a hacker and an alien invasion, all while trying to protect his family.
Much of the movie unfolds on the screen of character Will Radford, played by Ice Cube
Image credits: WAR OF THE WORLDS (2025)
Viewers get to see a lot of Ice Cube grimacing and screaming at his computer screen as he sits in his mostly empty office.
“Ice cube literally watches the entire world get mass m***ered by aliens in this movie, but the only time he shows any emotion is when his Facebook account gets deleted,” one joked online. “I am not kidding.”
Image credits: WAR OF THE WORLDS (2025)
Image credits: BivouacChillin
As he obsessively stares at his computer, the character chides his pregnant daughter (played by Iman Benson) for her eating habits. He also has conversations with his son (played by Henry Hunter Hall) and tells him not to spend all his time playing video games.
War of the Worlds was slapped with a rare 0% score on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
It has so far received an IMDb rating of 2.9/10.
“The only time he shows any emotion is when his facebook account gets deleted,” one joked online about Ice Cube's performance
Image credits: WAR OF THE WORLDS (2025)
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Austin Burke, a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, quipped that the film was “in the discussion for worst movie of the decade so far.”
Many even felt like the feature-length film was a commercial for all things Amazon, thanks to its excessive amount of product placement.
“I need you to place an official order on Amazon to activate the drone,” one character tells another in one scene.
War of the Worlds was slapped with a rare 0% score on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
Image credits: Kong_The_Monke
Image credits: WAR OF THE WORLDS (2025)
Despite the Amazon branding throughout the movie, Prime subscribers still had to sit through two minutes of ads while watching the film.
“This is Actually the Worst Movie I've Ever Seen,” read the title of YouTuber penguinz0’s video about the film.
He called the movie an “one big ad for Amazon” and an “insult to the entire medium of making movies.”
The thriller, adapted from the 1898 novel, sparked a firestorm of memes online
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Even Ice Cube’s son joined the commentary on the movie with a response to an X user.
“I truly can’t believe this adaptation of War Of The Worlds is actually a real film with a real budget and Ice Cube is actually in it,” the X user wrote in a tweet.
Ice Cube’s son O'Shea Jackson Jr. responded by saying: “Shot during the pandemic. Released 5 years later.”
Ice Cube’s son O'Shea Jackson Jr. joined the online discussions about his father's film
Image credits: The Rich Eisen Show
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Image credits: OsheaJacksonJr
Rapper 50 Cent also took a moment to mock the movie on social media.
“0 % 😳how you get a 0 percent rating 🤔Nah somebody mad at cube,” the rapper wrote in the caption. “Now I’m scared to watch it LOL @50centaction.”
Rapper 50 Cent also mocked the movie and said he's now “scared” to watch it
Image credits: WAR OF THE WORLDS (2025)
Image credits: WAR OF THE WORLDS (2025)
The production of the movie began in 2020. But it is unclear why the film took five years to reach people’s screens.
“The idea was organic,” producer Patrick Aiello told Deadline. “When catastrophes happen today, we experience them through our devices. That insight shaped the storytelling and tech used to create this immersive thriller.”
He said the “studio-scale sci-fi epic” was made using a format that puts the viewers “inside the action through the lenses of phones, computers, and tablets.”
Image credits: WAR OF THE WORLDS (2025)
“It’s a visceral, first-person experience designed for big screens in a language and format that is now natural within our daily lives,” he added.
The previous War of the Worlds adaption was released in 2005 and starred Tom Cruise in the lead role.
Tom plays the role of a father stepping up to protect his two children during a violent alien invasion.
The internet was flooded with bad reviews after War of the Worlds released on Prime Video
