TL;DR: H.G. Wells’ timeless alien invasion saga survives many things: the turn of the century, Orson Welles’ 1938 radio panic, Tom Cruise in Spielberg’s 2005 version. But it might not survive this. Prime Video’s 2025 take, starring Ice Cube as a lone surveillance officer, strips the spectacle from one of science fiction’s most cinematic premises and confines it to a glitchy desktop thriller. The result is a cheap-looking, awkwardly acted, and thematically hollow film that plays like an extended Amazon ad… without the free shipping

The Problem With Reimagining a Classic on a Budget

There’s a very specific kind of disappointment that comes from watching a sci-fi classic be turned into something so unambitious it feels allergic to spectacle.

“War of the Worlds” is, after all, one of the most durable invasion stories ever told. H.G. Wells gave us the blueprint: terrifying alien technology, humanity’s fragile place in the universe, and that intoxicating mix of awe and dread as civilization buckles under forces it cannot control. Orson Welles turned it into a radio panic in 1938. Spielberg brought the heat rays and carnage to the big screen in 2005 with enough budget to make your retinas sweat.

Prime Video’s 2025 version? Well, it brings… tabs. Browser tabs. Streaming windows. Security camera feeds. An occasional low-res alien tripod doing its best Bigfoot impression in a blurry TikTok clip. And smack in the middle of it all — Ice Cube, grimacing at his monitor like the entire galaxy just cut him off in traffic.

It’s a fascinating creative choice in the same way it’s fascinating when a magician says, I will now make your car disappear! and then just throws a tarp over it. You can technically say it happened, but you don’t really feel like you got your money’s worth.

Ice Cube, the Least Convincing Surveillance Officer in Sci-Fi History

Our main character, Will Radford (Ice Cube), works for Homeland Security in what looks like a post-apocalyptic WeWork — sleek desk, high-end monitors, not a single colleague in sight. His job appears to be monitoring the American public through every camera feed imaginable, from street corners to fridges, because apparently in this future, even your yogurt has a webcam.

But here’s the thing: Ice Cube has exactly two performance modes in this film — “resting scowl” and “explosive overreaction” — and neither makes him believable as a level-headed government tech operative. If anything, he plays the role like someone who got hired because HR lost a bet. Watching him bark into a headset about alien attacks feels less like an elite analyst saving the country and more like a dad losing his mind because the Wi-Fi went out during a Lakers game.

The World’s First Alien Invasion That Feels Like a Zoom Call

One of the more bizarre aspects of this retelling is that the entire alien invasion is presented through the narrow lens of Will’s computer screen. The filmmakers — following the “screenlife” format pioneered by Searching — seem to believe this limitation will generate intensity and immersion. Instead, it generates the cinematic equivalent of trying to watch Independence Day through a ring doorbell.

When the attack begins, we don’t get massive IMAX-worthy shots of destruction. We get random clips from shaky phone cameras, grainy livestreams, and news anchors doing their best to look concerned while reading off cue cards. It’s almost impressive how effectively the film kills its own tension.

Imagine being promised a front-row seat to the apocalypse, only to discover your ticket is for the security office next door.

The “Family Drama” That Nobody Asked For

A big chunk of the runtime is spent watching Will track his adult children, Faith (Iman Benson) and Dave (Henry Hunter Hall), like they’re suspicious packages. Faith is pregnant. Dave is a gamer. Will is convinced both need his constant, overbearing surveillance.

If the idea was to humanize the invasion through a family lens, it backfires. We barely know these characters before we’re expected to care about their fates, and their dialogue often feels ripped from a Hallmark Channel thriller. Even when Faith goes into labor mid-invasion, the film somehow drains the moment of urgency, reducing it to a split-screen of Will checking her vitals while muttering threats at the aliens.

One Cool Moment… and Then Nothing

To be fair, there’s exactly one sequence where the movie briefly comes alive: the reveal of the alien tripod emerging from a cracked asteroid, gleaming and terrifying in the half-light. For about 20 seconds, you glimpse the movie this could have been. Then the camera cuts back to Will’s desktop, and the magic evaporates like a cheap VFX render.

By the time Ice Cube stands up and shouts, “Take your intergalactic asses back home!” — the closest thing this film has to a crowd-pleasing line — the only thing I wanted to take home was my wasted evening.

Verdict

There’s a version of War of the Worlds that could work as a “screenlife” thriller. This isn’t it. Instead of tension, we get tedium. Instead of grand spectacle, we get pixelated alien shadows. And instead of a fresh perspective, we get a Prime Video ad masquerading as science fiction.

War of the Worlds (2025) is a cheap, hollow retelling that trades awe for awkward product placement, turning one of science fiction’s most thrilling stories into a blurry desktop slideshow. Ice Cube tries his best to sell it, but even he can’t make “Amazon saves the planet” feel like a victory worth cheering.