"War of the Worlds," the 2005 Steven Spielberg flick starring Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning, is widely considered a pretty great sci-fi thriller. "War of the Worlds," the 2025 Rich Lee flick starring Ice Cube and Eva Longoria, is seemingly less so, with a rare 0% rating on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes as dismal proof.
Released on Prime Video on Wednesday, July 30, the new "War of the Worlds," like the 2005 adaptation, is based on H.G. Wells's 1898 novel of the same name. It stars rapper-actor Ice Cube as a computer security analyst working for the U.S. government who finds his daily life disrupted by an alien attack. Along with its lead, the "bold reimagining" of the classic sci-fi tale also features Eva Longoria, Clark Gregg and Andrea Savage, among others.
A few days after its debut on the Amazon streaming service, "War of the Worlds" has hit No. 2 on Prime Video's top 10 list, yet has the distinct "honor" of being one of the worst-reviewed movies so far of 2025. Here's what critics (and audiences) are saying.
What is 'War of the Worlds' about?
Directed by Rich Lee with a screenplay by Kenneth A. Golde and Marc Hyman, 2025's "War of the Worlds" centers on Will Radford (Ice Cube), a top cyber-security analyst for Homeland Security, who spends his days tracking potential threats to national security through a mass surveillance program.
That is, "until an attack by an unknown entity leads him to question whether the government is hiding something from him… and the rest of the world," reads the official film synopsis, per Prime Video.
“Set against a backdrop of surveillance, mass data collection, and government-tech collusion, the film explores urgent themes of privacy vs. security, family vs. work, and humanity vs. control," the logline continues. "With nods to Orwell’s '1984' and powered by a screenlife-style format, this refresh of H.G. Wells’ classic novel resonates with today’s digital anxieties.”
What are critics saying about 'War of the Worlds'?
Not even a week into its run on Prime Video, "War of the Worlds" joins the 0% Rotten Tomatoes Club, alongside only 41 other films that have received such a low rating. (The Scott Eastwood-and-Sylvester Stallone crime thriller "Alarum" is the other 2025 title to enter this less-than-coveted club.) It also only has a 12% audience approval rating on the site.
So, exactly what is so bad about "War of the Worlds"? Well, according to Peter Debruge over at Variety, "The action is limited to glitchy video clips and whatever else might appear on a surveillance expert's screen in a cheap-looking thriller that suggests Amazon Prime as Earth's one-stop solution."
Peter Martin at ScreenAnarchy called it "hilariously bad, until it becomes risibly ridiculous," while Todd Jorgenson's Cinemalogue capsule review criticized the 2025 remake for "failing to muster any meaningful suspense from its misguided gimmick."
Clearly, it's no critical darling, but "War of the Worlds" is currently ranking No. 1 on Prime Video's top 10 movies list, so it does look like subscribers are tuning in. Will you?
Watch "War of the Worlds" on Prime Video now
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