War of the Worlds (2025) Review: Missed Opportunities

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Initial Expectations

I’ll be honest: I thought the trailer for War of the Worlds (2025) looked semi-decent. The alien mechs had a slick design. The use of real-world telecommuting tools and drone feeds felt grounded in our post-pandemic reality. I was even optimistic that, maybe just maybe, this version of the oft-retold Martian invasion tale would bring something new to the table.

Core Problems

It doesn’t. Directed with the energy of a Zoom meeting that should’ve been an email, War of the Worlds (2025) wastes every idea it briefly gestures toward. It flirts with themes of surveillance, media manipulation, and our obsession with screens, only to abandon them in favor of uninspired action and a plot that feels stuck in neutral. What could’ve been a sharp commentary on digital-age panic turns into an empty shell of sci-fi spectacle.

Missed Potential

Ice Cube stars as a government analyst holed up in a remote bunker, monitoring what appears to be a worldwide alien invasion. For a fleeting moment, it works. The early scenes—contained, tense, and focused on Cube’s character watching events unfold in real-time—hint at something smarter. The film could’ve gone full Orson Welles, leaning into the paranoia and spectacle of a war waged entirely through screens. It would’ve been gutsy. It would’ve been timely. Most of all, it would’ve been interesting.

Structural Flaws

Instead, the film makes its biggest mistake: it leaves the room. Once Cube exits his station, the film starts unraveling. The tension fizzles. The mystery dries up. The world outside is both underdeveloped and overexposed, lacking the kind of texture or stakes that a story like this demands. Characters appear and disappear with little weight. Set pieces are muddy and lifeless. The pacing crawls, then jumps, then crawls again.

Production Issues

What’s worse: it all feels… old. And it is. As I later discovered, this version of War of the Worlds was shot nearly five years ago during the height of COVID. You can feel the seams: the small cast, the minimalist locations, the isolation that never quite translates into atmosphere. It looks and plays like a forgotten streaming relic, one that Amazon Prime quietly absorbed into its content galaxy without much fanfare.

Final Verdict

If the film had embraced the idea of a hoax, if it had twisted back toward the Welles broadcast that sparked actual public panic in 1938, it might’ve had something. It might’ve been clever. Relevant, even. Instead, it shrinks from the opportunity to say anything about anything. It’s all setup, no payoff. All signal, no story. There are sparks of style, and Ice Cube does his best with what little he’s given. But in the end, War of the Worlds (2025) is a stalling spacecraft—lost in orbit, devoid of purpose, and quietly drifting into the endless stream of “content.” Skip it.

War of the Worlds (2025) is streaming now on Prime Video

Details

• Rating Certificate: PG-13 (for some sci-fi action/violence, strong language and bloody images.)
• Studios & Distributors: Patrick Aiello Productions | Bazelevs Entrainment | Universal Picture | Amazon Prime Video
• Director: Rich Lee
• Written By: Kenny Golde (screenplay) | Mark Hyman (screenplay) | Kenny Golde (screen story) | H.G. Wells (based on the novel by)
• Run Time: 90 Mins.
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Country: USA | Germany
• Language: English
• Release Date: 30 July 2025