'War of the Worlds' (2025) Review: A Baffling Adaptation of H.G. Wells Classic Story
- Dan Bremner
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
By Dan Bremner - August 5, 2025
Every now and then a film comes along that is so desperately fake, that you have to drop everything you're doing to watch it and find out for yourself. This dropped out of nowhere, although it was apparently shot during COVID in 2020 and then dumped on Prime with absolutely no word before a trailer about a week before its release (Always a good sign). As fake and honestly terrible as this looked (Including a questionable very AI looking poster), I was instantly curious to see how H.G. Wells' novel would be adapted into the “Screenlife” genre, which is oddly named “War of the Worlds: Revival” in some territories. I didn't expect much from this, but somehow I ended up “The Room” of 2025 in this poorly made, baffling and cheap sci-fi thriller that has to be seen to be believed.
What is 'War of the Worlds' about?
Will Radford is a top cyber-security analyst for Homeland Security who tracks potential threats to national security through a mass surveillance program, until one day an attack by an unknown entity leads him to question whether the government is hiding something from him… and from the rest of the world.
War of the Worlds is a cinematic catastrophe, its bargain-bin visuals and incoherent execution turning H.G. Wells’ classic into a laughably inept sci-fi slog. Shot in 2020 and unceremoniously dumped on streaming, its shoddy production reeks of a project left to rot, offering little beyond unintentional comedy. The screenlife format, framing the alien invasion through Zoom calls and WhatsApp chats, aims for modern relevance but collapses into a gimmicky mess. Pixelated interfaces and clunky digital transitions fail to sustain narrative coherence, rendering the high-concept approach a hollow stunt that lacks enthusiasm and effort from anyone involved. A far cry from the use of this gimmick in 2018’s Searching.
Ice Cube’s Will Radford, a surveillance-obsessed analyst, is a repellent caricature, his unconvincing tech-genius persona buried under a laughable video-call filter that attempts to turn what is presumably Cube’s own bedroom into an NSA. His bizarre choices, like bribing a homeless man with gift cards and a year of free internet or hacking his daughter's fridge to find out what her diet is (Somehow a more controlling, psychotic and deranged dad than Liam Neeson’s Brian in Taken), add to the film’s absurd, off-putting tone that goes from one jarring decision to another.
The special effects are a low point, with Syfy Channel-grade CGI, think Windows Movie Maker explosions and lifeless tripods that fail to evoke any sense of awe or terror. These shoddy visuals, paired with amateurish weather effects, make the alien invasion feel like a cheap knockoff that was made by a bunch of drunk students trying to throw together something within an hour for their media diploma course deadline. The screen life format further isolates the film from any tangible sense of place, reducing the invasion to a series of flat digital frames with glaringly awful backgrounds and archive footage with CGI tripods at every turn.
The narrative stumbles through cluttered subplots, from family drama to half-baked societal commentary on privacy and government overreach. These themes, while topical, are handled with such clumsiness that they inspire unintentional laughs rather than reflection, further muddling the alien-invasion core. At a mere 90 minutes, the film still drags, padded with tedious scenes of Ice Cube reacting to abysmal CGI news clips like a bored streamer. Its pacing, sluggish and repetitive, squanders any potential for tension, leaving you nothing but shock and awe from how stupid it all is.
Baffling twists, including ludicrous plot turns that defy logic, lend the film a so-bad-it’s-good charm, but even this unintentional humour grows stale amid the dullness. The script’s attempts at gravitas, particularly around surveillance, land as preachy and unearned. All this is topped by constant Amazon product placement that becomes something beyond parody as their delivery drones become one of the heroes of the hour. It's hilariously and jaw-droppingly stupid stuff.
Final Verdict: Is 'War of the Worlds' Worth a Stream on Amazon Prime?
War of the Worlds is a woeful misfire, its bargain-bin effects, incoherent story, and Ice Cube’s misjudged performance sinking a promising premise that could have given a fresh take on H.G. Wells story. A sci-fi travesty best left buried on streaming, but it's so shockingly awful, it has to be seen to be believed.
'War of the Worlds' (2025) is available on Prime Video
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