War of the Worlds Trivialises Real Life Tragedies
Many viewers avoided Amazon's War of the Worlds. I experienced this myself, abandoning the trailer after just 30 seconds, a reaction I suspect was common. The film stars Ice Cube as William Radford, a Department of Homeland Security officer who witnesses an alien invasion from the safety of his computer. Using his hacking skills, he tries to protect his family amid the disaster.
This adaptation contrasts sharply with the earlier Tom Cruise-led War of the Worlds, which was a gripping sci-fi thriller showing a protagonist and his family surviving in a war-torn world during an alien assault.
Producer Timur Bekmambetov posed a timely question in his remake: What would an alien invasion look like today? He aimed to reflect modern life by presenting much of the action through the screens of phones, tablets, and computers. Starting production in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the film leveraged the lockdown's constraints.
However, the result was widely disappointing. War of the Worlds 2025 is likely to be remembered as one of the worst films of the decade.
“Timur wanted to imitate modern life by allowing audiences to view most of the action through phone/tablet/computer screens.”
“Because production began in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the film’s concept took advantage of the limitations imposed by the lockdown.”
Summary
The 2025 version of War of the Worlds attempted a modern twist by using screens as a storytelling device but failed to deliver a compelling experience, resulting in harsh criticism.