I finally watched Prime Video's 'War of the Worlds' and it's a disaster in the best possible way — here's why you should watch it

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I can’t believe ‘War of the Worlds’ is a real movie

Ice Cube in War of the Worlds
(Image credit: Prime Video)

I can pretty much pinpoint the exact moment I knew I was in for a real ride while watching Prime Video’s new “War of the Worlds" movie.

About five minutes in, Ice Cube’s character, a Department of Homeland Security officer, picks up a WhatsApp video call from his daughter’s boyfriend (played by Devon Bostick) and declares, “I’m not your daddy” after being addressed as “pops." Just to add to the scene, there’s a giant Amazon logo in the background. Talk about subtle product placement.

Critics have utterly annihilated this new Prime Video flick.

This new Prime Video original sci-fi thriller is based on H. G. Wells’ legendary novel, which has been turned into everything from a Steven Spielberg blockbuster to a touring musical extravaganza, and this stab at bringing the iconic material to the small screen might give “The Room” a run for its money in the field of being “so bad, it’s good.”

Critics have utterly annihilated this new Prime Video flick. It currently holds a miserable 3% score on Rotten Tomatoes, although considering it was stuck at 0% for around a week, perhaps picking up a few percentage points should be considered a win. It's one of the worst-reviewed movies of the year, and it deserves that (dis)honor.

So, don’t get me wrong, 2025’s “War of the Worlds” is a bad movie, I’m talking a catastrophically bad movie. Yet, when a flick fails on basically every fundamental level, you can’t help but marvel at the sheer awfulness on display.

And there are so many unintentionally funny moments that I had a blast watching along and laughing at its numerous failures.

‘War of the Worlds’ is a trainwreck you can’t stop watching

WAR OF THE WORLDS | Amazon Prime Official Trailer (2025) - Ice Cube - YouTube WAR OF THE WORLDS | Amazon Prime Official Trailer (2025) - Ice Cube - YouTube
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“War of the Worlds” central gimmick is that it takes the bones of Wells’ story, which sees the Earth invaded by a group of technology-advanced aliens, and sets it within the confines of a computer screen.

The entire 90-minute movie takes place from the perspective of a screen recording. It’s a technique called “screenlife,” and it’s been used successfully in mystery thrillers such as “Searching” and its excellent sequel, “Missing.”

In this case, the format feels restrictive and ironically, rather alienating. Viewers never quite feel the scale of the invasion because our viewpoint is so limited, and it’s hard to build tension while Ice Cube sits behind a desk.

Maybe the other reason that the drama of the invasion never lands is that the few scenes of carnage we do glimpse sport some of the worst GCI this side of 2002’s “The Scorpion King.” I’ve seen YouTube videos with better production values. And when the low-tier effects aren’t cutting it, the movie resorts to aggressive shaky cam to distort your view and give you a headache.

I’ve seen YouTube videos with better production values.

“War of the Worlds’” most befuddling element has to be Ice Cube’s performance as William Radford. To his credit, Ice Cube does fully commit to the role, but his overly serious performance just adds to the unintentional comedy and feels completely at odds with the silly movie around him. It’s like somebody trying to perform Shakespeare at a children’s party. At least his numerous dramatic reaction shots have already become the stuff of online memes.

In fact, most of the movie is prime meme material, and it’s already widely circulating across social media. Before streaming the movie for myself, I felt like I’d seen half of it just through online posts thoroughly roasting it. And it deserves to be roasted, because it’s a trainwreck. But as the adage goes, sometimes you just can’t tear your eyes away from a trainwreck.

That was very much the case for me with “War of the Worlds.” As the movie progressed, I was increasingly baffled by the creative choices made, and yet I was eager to see what ludicrous line of dialogue would come out of Ice Cube’s mouth next, or what comical way the movie would insert another real-life product or web service (there’s so much product placement on display).

So, while “War of the Worlds” is unquestionably one of the worst movies of 2025, I can’t deny that I got quite a lot of enjoyment out of streaming it. It just wasn’t the type of enjoyment that the filmmakers likely intended. Viewers looking for a “so bad, it’s good” movie will find plenty of material to poke fun at, but judged on its quality, it’s a spectacular misfire.

Alternatively, if “so bad, it’s good” doesn’t quite hit the mark with you, here’s a roundup of new to Prime Video movies that scored at least 90% or higher on Rotten Tomatoes, for some streaming options that won’t have you head-scratching in confusion like “War of the Worlds.”

Watch "War of the Worlds" on Prime Video now

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Rory Mellon
Rory Mellon
Senior Entertainment Editor (UK)

Rory is a Senior Entertainment Editor at Tom’s Guide based in the UK. He covers a wide range of topics but with a particular focus on gaming and streaming. When he’s not reviewing the latest games, searching for hidden gems on Netflix, or writing hot takes on new gaming hardware, TV shows and movies, he can be found attending music festivals and getting far too emotionally invested in his favorite football team.

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