Remake of Tom Cruise’s Sci-Fi Megahit Starring Ice Cube Debuts with 0% Rotten Tomatoes Score

War of the Worlds is a 2025 science fiction thriller that tries a new approach by telling its story entirely through screens and digital devices. The movie is based on H.G. Wells’s famous 1898 novel The War of the Worlds. Directed by Rich Lee, with a screenplay by Kenneth A. Golde and Marc Hyman, it stars Ice Cube, Eva Longoria, Clark Gregg, Andrea Savage, and others.

The film was released by Universal Pictures on Amazon Prime Video on July 30, 2025. Unfortunately, it was not well-received. The movie currently has a 0% approval rating from critics based on 10 reviews and only a 12% approval rating from audiences, based on over 250 ratings. While the number of critic reviews is small, it doesn’t look like the scores will improve much as more opinions come in.

The story follows Will Radford, a Department of Homeland Security officer who works with a government surveillance program that can watch every person on Earth. As he helps FBI agents track down a mysterious hacker called “Disruptor,” meteors begin crashing all over the world. Huge machines rise from the impact sites and start attacking humans. Radford teams up with a friend from NASA to discover that these events are actually an alien invasion.

The main idea behind the movie was to use the “screenlife” style, showing everything through computer and phone screens to bring a modern twist to the classic story. Universal Pictures was initially interested in this fresh approach, but it seems they will regret it.

Reviews say the film is poorly written and moves at an awkward pace. Many critics believe it is one of the worst attempts to adapt this story in recent years. People found it hard to watch because it fails not only to entertain but also to function well as a movie.

It’s noteworthy because of all the attempts to adapt this story, this is the worst one.

Joshua Tyler

Poorly written and awkwardly paced, War of the Worlds in contention for one of the worst movies of the decade so far.

Austin Burke

Told entirely through screens and digital devices, this “screenlife” thriller tries to bring H.G. Wells’ classic into the tech era, but not only fails at being entertaining, but fails at being a movie itself.

Patrick Beatty

Other than what could have been an interesting enough angle… the surrounding movie just sucks.

Jeremy Jahns

Failing to muster any meaningful suspense from its misguided gimmick, this reimagining of the classic H.G. Wells science-fiction saga becomes more ridiculous as it goes along.

Todd Jorgenson

Although the concept of using screens to tell the story might have sounded interesting, the overall experience falls flat. The movie doesn’t deliver a good narrative or keep viewers engaged. Instead, it feels slow and uncomfortable to watch.

In the end, War of the Worlds (2025) is being seen as a disappointing failure. It tries to bring H.G. Wells’s classic tale into the tech era but ends up missing the mark completely.

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