Stream It or Skip It?
H.G. Wells wrote his novel War of the Worlds at the turn of the 20th century, and it’s remained relevant for reinterpretation as geopolitics or technology make our world feel as if it teeters on the brink of collapse. It doesn’t feel like much of a stretch to imagine something like Orson Welles’ 1936 radio broadcast adaptation, which legendarily tricked many Americans into thinking an actual alien invasion was unfolding, happening in our incredulous times of AI-doctored imagery and post-truth reality. But a movie that arrives in a moment does not always meet that moment, as this War of the Worlds cannot help but demonstrate.
The Gist: DHS agent Will Radford (Ice Cube) thinks he’s just got a normal day ahead of himself overseeing a seemingly limitless spy apparatus, which he mostly uses to monitor his family – especially his pregnant daughter, Faith (Iman Benson). But a baby isn’t the only thing that arrives on an untimely schedule in War of the Worlds. Radford ignores many ominously foreshadowing warnings and notifications on his computer screen, but soon the alien invaders on Earth make their presence impossible to ignore.
With the help of his computer-savvy son, Dave (Henry Hunter Hall), and his NASA scientist pal, Sandra (Eva Longoria), Radford attempts to marshal the vast government industrial complex at his fingertips to save his loved ones … and humanity. Along the way, however, Radford comes to realize that there’s another threat worthy of attention and alarm. Unlike the mysterious creatures terrorizing cities near him, he has some control over how to deploy and divulge this force.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Beyond the obvious comparisons of better other movies bearing its name, this War of the Worlds is a “screen movie” in the vein of Searching, Missing, and Unfriended. (The style’s pioneer, Timur Bekmambetov, is one of the producers here.)
Performance Worth Watching: Chris Rock once joked in his Oscars monologue: “You ever see a movie so bad that you question the actor’s finances?” Just as he said that he sent $80 to Cuba Gooding, Jr.after seeing Boat Trip, it feels like Ice Cube might need a similar cash infusion.
To be fair, acting entirely in a direct-to-camera video style while isolated from any other humans is not exactly the ideal scenario to craft a great performance … but the work turned in here is still incredibly tough. The most dynamic performance comes from whoever is behind the scenes, navigating all the graphics that make the screen come to life. This hyperkinetic editing, bouncing across all the open windows on Radford’s computer, is like a performance all of its own.
Memorable Dialogue: “Prime Air. It’s the future of delivery. They’ve been training us for months. I need you to place an official order on Amazon…” – an actual line in an allegedly non-infomercial that is running on Amazon Prime Video.
Sex and Skin: The closest thing you’re going to get here is the delivery of a baby … while on a video chat, as aliens cause mayhem just outside.
Our Take: War of the Worlds struggles with many of the same issues as all “screen movies.” While we undeniably live a great deal of our lives online and connected through devices, it stretches credulity to watch how everything has to be a video call and why everyone remains tethered to their screens. As unidentified creatures wreak havoc across the globe, it’s just not plausible to have all these characters glued to video calls and online messenger apps.
But for a movie based on one of the seminal texts about alien invasions, it’s startling how quickly the intruders disappear from prominence in the narrative. Seriously, they’re only ever glimpsed in news reports or the very distant background of someone’s video – likely to mask the cheap and unconvincing CGI. War of the Worlds undergoes a long stretch as a corny parenting drama before it settles into being a weird cyber thriller that also doubles as an ad for the Microsoft Office suite with a bonus product placement for corporate daddy at Amazon. (Seriously, the film should come with a trigger warning for anyone who has to be on Teams calls for their work – the call noise is violent to the ears.) If there was any modicum of goodwill left by the time the film ends, it closes on an incredibly cynical redirecting of surveillance away from what data corporations collect on Americans back toward the government.
Our Call: SKIP IT! We have the (vastly underrated) Spielberg film at home that, 20 years later, still feels as fresh as ever in its assessment of post-9/11 fear and paranoia in America. This limp, lifeless take on Wells’ War of the Worlds feels shoehorned into the “screen movie” format just to harvest clicks from the recognizable name. If this film has any value, it will be for illustrating a depressing truth about the nature of civic participation in the second Trump era. What’s depressing is that even someone who claims he is the government surveillance state is rendered just another person spectating behind a screen at the collapse of society. There are no protagonists here, just posters.
Marshall Shaffer is a New York-based freelance film journalist. In addition to Decider, his work has also appeared on Slashfilm, Slant, The Playlist and many other outlets. Some day soon, everyone will realize how right he is about Spring Breakers.
Credit to Nypost AND Peoples
