'War of the Worlds': Why Everyone's Talking About It & Why It's So Bad

On July 30, Amazon Prime Video released a new adaptation of H.G. Wells's cult novel The War of the Worlds, starring Ice Cube and Eva Longoria (who presumably signed on before reading the script).

The movie was directed by Rich Lee and was shot entirely in screenlife format, meaning the events unfold on a computer screen.

I watched War of the Worlds, so you don't have to, and here's why it turned out to be the worst movie of the year (if not the whole decade).

What Is 'War of the Worlds' About?

Will is an analyst for the Department of Homeland Security. He performs all tasks from his chair – his position gives him full access to all internet-connected devices, accounts, and correspondence in the country.

Then, meteorites fall to Earth, but they turn out to be spaceships that begin destroying cities. Will tries to use the last available surveillance tools to save his family.

However, it turns out that the aliens don't need people at all – they feed on information, which is why they came to Earth.

'War of the Worlds' Has Been a Flop from the Very Beginning

On paper, all of the above sounds pretty funny, so it's not surprising that such a project was put in production.

However, Amazon's decision to release a movie originally planned for theaters on its streaming service without ads or announcements suggests that sponsors knew – they knew War of the Worlds is not destined to become a critics' darling.

'War of the Worlds' Is Everything That Could Go Wrong With a Movie

It is confirmed within the very first few minutes of the movie – it is a demonstration of Will's work on a computer. And guess what? It is painfully static.

For most of the film, War of the Worlds lacks dynamics. It's not just the shortcomings of the screenlife format – it's also the completely unnecessary, meticulous demonstration of every action of the main character.

Loading screens, switching links, and clicking – don't watch War of the Worlds if you're an office worker. If you've ever sat through a coworker's screen share, congrats – you've already experienced this movie.

Also, the ridiculous product placement for Amazon's drone delivery service placed at the climax of the story certainly doesn't help War of the Worlds.

So why is everyone talking about War of the Worlds? Because it's a bingo of everything that could go wrong – a questionable format, mediocre performances, ridiculous product placement, a chaotic plot…Well, this list could go on and on.

What Did Critics & Viewers Think of 'War of the Worlds'?

Redditor poonstar1 wrote:

“It's as bad as that RT score indicates. It's totally unwatchable. Ice Cube is almost certainly reading the script directly off the page.”

• War of the Worlds has 0% from critics and 19% from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes.

• On IMDb, the movie has a score of 3.0/10.

• On Letterboxd, it has 1.2/5.