? War of the Worlds (2025) is a train wreck — but here’s the thing about train wrecks: no matter how hard you try, you can’t look away. When Prime Video dropped the anticipated remake of the 2005 alien invasion cult classic, viewers were riddled with excitement, flocking to the streaming service in droves. What ensued? Reviews deeming the Rich Lee film abysmal, thousands of angry reviews on social media, an IMDB score of 1.9, and a Rotten Tomatoes debut of 0% — a feat practically unheard of. Not since 2022’s Morbius has a movie been so collectively hated by the masses — but we’d like to offer a contrarian opinion.

First things first, the basics: Starring Ice Cube, Eva Langoria, Iman Benson, Devon Bostick and H. Hunter Hall, War of the Worlds is a loose adaptation of H. G. Wells’ 1898 classic novel of the same name, which narrates the events of an alien invasion on Earth. The 2005 adaptation of the novel was a hit, and remains one of the most popular alien movies in modern pop culture. The 2025 remake completely flips the script on the source material, instead offering a 21st century post-AI take on the story.

This is an experimental movie — and it shows. The entire 90-minute runtime of the movie is shot through zoom calls and screen recordings — taking a page out of Unfriended’s book. We follow Will Radford (Ice Cube) — a US government security analyst — as he uses state supertech to keep tabs on his adult children. Radford soon receives a call from Dr. Sandra Salas (Longoria) — who works for Nasa — who alerts him that they’ve lost contact with all their satellites and asks if he’s aware of any disturbances. Radford and Salas then discover they’re witnessing the beginning of an alien invasion.

What do the aliens want? Data. Aliens have flocked from the furthest ends of the galaxy to harvest Earth’s data centers, and Radford means to stop them from the comfort of his underground government bunker. After navigating years of family trauma with his children, the family and Sandra get to work, fighting aliens with nothing but Amazon delivery drones, cliché dialogue, and plot armor. The alien-fighting crew soon discovers that the government hasn’t been quite transparent, and might have something to do with the whole aliens-want-our-data plot. Soon, they begin facing a double threat: the terabyte-hungry cyborgs and the US government — but we’ll leave it at that to avoid spoilers.

The movie’s pitfalls outnumber the aliens. Somewhere between Barber Shop and War of the Worlds, it seems Ice Cube may have forgotten to brush up on his on-screen skills. Longoria fares better, but the bar isn’t that high. We barely get to see the aliens, and when we do, it’s through live CCTV footage. The panic felt by the citizens doesn’t quite translate to audiences, but perhaps there’s a metaphor there on what it means to live through something other than watching it from the safety of a digital screen.

Yet is the movie all that horrible? We’d argue that the internet was perhaps a little too harsh. The movie’s bane was the expectations its viewers had. Audiences were anticipating a “zhuzhed-up” live action remake of the 2005 classic, and as such, were disappointed when that wasn’t the case.

While War of the Worlds indeed fails at being a remake, it does a commendable job at offering something fresh, innovative, and new to the genre. The screenlife filming style is a very interesting choice, and one that we — contrary to popular opinion — appreciated. Viewers are given first-hand access to all the information circulating, how our main characters are addressing them in real-time, and just how much impact modern day tech has on our lives — and what would happen were we to use access to all digital conveniences.

Ice Cube’s watered-down acting aside, this is a pretty solid movie if you don’t let public opinion get in the way. At no point in the movie will you be able to predict what’s coming next, and that’s not something today’s blockbusters can claim. There’s no clear-cut path to victory, and you’re able to join along as the characters figure a way out themselves. It’s a low-budget production, but we’d argue that’s what makes it realistic — regardless of the inherently unrealistic plot.

Should you give it a go? We’d say yes. At the end of the day, what War of the Worlds offers is media that veers from the path often trodden, and it’s this novelty that is its saving grace. Did it excel at what it attempted? That’s debatable. Did it prove that there’s still room for growth for the thriller genre? Absolutely — and we wouldn’t be too surprised if we start seeing more screenlife adaptations coming our way.

Pitfalls aside, War of the Worlds is a movie you’ll want to check out, even if just to curb your curiosity — because it’s not every day a “horrible” movie becomes the most-talked about release online. It’s fast-paced, dramatic, and carries some interesting metaphors if you read between the lines.

WHERE TO WATCH: You can stream War of the Worlds on Prime Video, and find the trailer on YouTube (runtime: 2:12).

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