While searching for a notorious hacker, Ice Cube and Eva Longoria find themselves in the middle of an alien invasion which leads them to question what the government is hiding in the new film War of the Worlds.
What is War of the Worlds about?
Will Radford (Ice Cube) is a widowed top cyber security analyst for Homeland Security. His job is to track potential threats to national security (and his children) through a massive surveillance system. At the same time, his on on the hunt for a mysterious hacker known as “Disruptor” threatening to divulge national secrets. One day, he gets a call from NASA scientist Sandra Salas (Eva Longoria) about strange weather patterns. That strange weather phenomenon turns out to be the arrival of aliens.
As he investigates the alien threat, he learns that the government may be hiding something from him and the rest of the world. The government has a much bigger surveillance operation that not only covered up previous invasions, but attracts the aliens to Earth. As the aliens feed on data centers around the world, he must find a way to stop them before it’s too late.
War of the Worlds Review
First, when a trailer for a movie or TV show debuts days before it’s released, that’s not a good sign. When this happens, it usually means the studio does not believe in it. Next, it was revealed that the film was actually shot in 2020 during the pandemic. This explains why the film was shot using screenlife elements; Zoom calls, FaceTime, etc. Since Searching, there has been a growing number of these types of films. Although none have been as good as Searching. Also, the CGI in the trailer looked horrible. It looked like a bad Syfy movie. With all that said, I decided to give it a shot since I am a fan of both Ice Cube and Eva Longoria.
As expected, the CGI was horrible with a lot of the scenes being choppy and down right cheap. Since, it sitting on the shelf for 5 years, you would have thought they would have taken the time to at least clean it up. Instead, they left it alone. In addition, the script was way too serious. With the bad CGI and the bad acting, it would have been better the movie was funny. For example, Sharknado knew what it was. Just like War of the Worlds, the acting and the CGI was horrible. But because the film didn’t take itself too serious, it was entertaining. At one point, Ice Cube was fighting off an alien and he made a direct quote to a Ludacris song. Hit would have been much more enjoyable if he would have delivered the line the same way Ludacris did in his song.
On another note, the movie should have had a different name. While the aliens look similar to those in the H.G. Wells book, the plot and the reasons aliens invaded Earth was completely different. In the film, the aliens were here to feed on data the world has accumulated. Social media feeds, drives, etc. were all erased. Honestly, I didn’t mind this twist. It was unique and more relatable for the times we live in now. It asks the question, what would we do if we couldn’t rely on technology. However, it’s not aligned with the events in the book.
Finally, the ending was way too convenient. It just so happens that Radford’s daughter is a biomedical researcher and, spoiler alert, the hacker that he was looking for was his son. His daughter’s research and his son’s hacking skills were just what they needed to defeat the aliens.
The only shinning light was the subplot of the movie. After his wife’s death, Radford struggles to connect with his children. He DMs her profile every year and listens to her voice message over and over again just to hear her voice. With her gone, he has become both mother and father. Instead of connection with his children and starting the healing process, he becomes the ultimate helicopter dad and spies on them.
In the end, unless you just want to see how bad this movie is, skip it. It’s not worth your time. The CGI was bad, the acting was bad and the so-called twists were predictable. With a bigger budget and a better script, this could have been an intriguing movie.
Currently, you can stream War of the Worlds on Prime Video.
What is War of the Worlds rated?
The film has a rating of PG-13 for some sci-fi action and violence, strong language and bloody images.
Does War of the Worlds have an end-credit scene?
Thankfully, there are no post or end credit scenes for this film.
