We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.
It’s rare for a piece of entertainment to bring the entire internet together anymore. Usually, there’s some contrarian corner of the web ready to defend even the most maligned release — or to tear apart something that’s being widely praised. But when it comes to the new “War of the Worlds” adaptation (did we even need another one?) that’s now available on Prime Video and starring Ice Cube, let’s just say that it’s uniting critics and audiences in a way that you hardly ever see anymore, with most agreeing that this is easily the worst movie of 2025.
Where to even begin with this one: Much of it consists of Ice Cube reacting to disaster scenes playing out on a computer screen. The Amazon product placement in the movie, from delivery drivers to drones to gift cards, is so overt it’s cringe-worthy. The movie’s tagline (“It’s worse than you think”) works on multiple levels, and the bottom line is that there’s no mystery at all as to why this “War of the Worlds” version is currently sitting on a 17% Rotten Tomatoes audience score and a 0% critics’ score. Obviously, it begs the question: How did this get made?
Amazon’s War of the Worlds is the alien disaster nobody asked for
From its early-2000s Syfy Channel visuals to its Amazon-heavy plot, this “War of the Worlds” is being described by Rotten Tomatoes reviewers as “psychotic,” “pointless,” and “a career low” for everyone involved. Needless to say, Ice Cube isn’t able to salvage what one Letterboxd user has described as a “screenlife fever dream that feels like it was written by someone featured on ‘Doomsday Preppers’.”
It’s not just bad. It’s bad in a way that arguably ought to offend audiences, that a company would think so little of you it assumes you’ll make time to watch this. As one YouTube commenter summed up perfectly: “When the star of ‘Hunger Games’ hates your movie, you know you messed up.” Prime Video may have banked on star power (the cast also includes Eva Longoria and Clark Gregg) and a nostalgic title, but instead, they’ve unleashed a cultural event so bad that the internet can’t stop talking about it.
Audiences on Rotten Tomatoes have torn into it with ferocity:
-
“Possibly the worst film I’ve ever tried to watch, did they just call it in whilst sat at home on a rainy Sunday?”
-
“Were the actors paid in free Prime memberships?”
-
“Nothing makes sense… You need an IQ below potato to not start laughing at every attempt made by the writers.”
My favorite zinger, though, comes from this YouTube commenter: “It’s rare I miss the logic and clear thinking of the ‘Sharknado’ movies.” Because, obviously — when a movie manages to make people nostalgic for “Sharknado,” you know something’s gone so wrong.
