Hyperbole is the universal language of the internet. Extreme opinions bring in more clicks, so it’s only natural that the past couple of decades have seen a sharp rise in rage-bait content and over-the-top reactions to media. And while there was once a layer of self-aware irony to all of the angry reviewers and contrarian […]
Timur argued that a modern-day invasion would reach us through computer/phone screens before we could see the tripods outside for ourselves, and heavily documented catastrophes like the war in the Ukraine and the Israel/Palestine conflict suggest that this would absolutely be the case. The producer would go on to pitch his idea for a modernized War of the Worlds to Universal almost immediately after lockdown began back in 2020. The studio saw potential in the project as it would allow them to produce a sci-fi event film with the budget of a made-for-TV thriller. And with the entire world being forced to experience reality through their screens due to the pandemic, a film that could be entirely produced from a safe distance seemed like the right move.
Once funding was secured, Rich Lee was brought onboard to direct due to his experience with high-concept music videos, with Kenneth A. Golde and Marc Hyman penning a script based on Bekmambetov’s ideas. Ice Cube and Eva Longoria were the final pieces of the puzzle, with Universal wanting recognizable faces to help promote what would otherwise be low-profile production.
In the “finished” film, we follow Ice Cube as government surveillance officer Will Radford during a seemingly normal workday at the Department of Homeland Security, with events unfolding through screen recordings of Will’s computer alongside footage from its accompanying webcam. However, in between spying on his own kids and tracking down threats to national security, Will soon discovers that that the earth is being attacked by extraterrestrial invaders hell-bent on shutting down global infrastructure and tracking down large data-centers.
What follows is something of an unintentional B-movie with striking similarities to countless low-budget alien invasion flicks from the ’50s and ’60s. On paper, this sounds like a pretty fun time, and I’d even argue that the movie is worth watching through this particular lens. However, the overall execution here leaves a lot to be desired.
War of the Worlds isn’t necessarily terrible (you can tell that at least some thought went into both the script and visuals), but this is obviously an unfinished product. It feels like producers saw a rough cut of the picture and didn’t think it was worth going through the trouble of completing the full post-production process. I mean, not only are some of the visual effects obvious placeholders, but the Screenlife editing contains a series of visual inconsistencies and even silly blunders like having Will upload a PDF file to YouTube instead of a video.
And speaking of Will, I didn’t find Ice Cube’s acting to be as bad as most people claimed. The real issue is that he’s a very physical performer being forced to work within a confined frame – all the while being directed by a team that was probably communicating with him from the other side of the world. Funnily enough, his character was originally meant to be paraplegic before Lee realized that Cube would be better suited for a role where he could violently interact with his environment, though I’d argue that the original plan might have made for a more interesting experience.
Despite this, there are flashes of brilliance here, like the eerily believable night-vision footage during some of the brief “action” scenes, as well as many of the photoshopped images that appear in edited news bulletins throughout the film. Unfortunately, the innovative format can only carry the movie so far. What ultimately sabotages the experience is the predictable script which also suffers from corporate meddling.
As a long-time fan of cinematic schlock, I can easily excuse shoddy production value so long as the movie in question contains a story worth telling, but War of the Worlds relies on recycled beats from Independence Day while also suffering from product placement so blatant that it should come with a legal disclaimer. To be fair, there are plenty of legitimately interesting ideas here (I especially appreciate the conspiratorial angle of the story since it so perfectly reflects the cultural moment during which the movie was shot), but the positive elements just make it all the more frustrating that the studio didn’t think it was worth completing the film.
The way I see it, it’s likely that Amazon itself is leaning into the flick’s “so-bad-it’s-good” reputation as a form of viral marketing fueled by free internet hyperbole. After all, there’s no such thing as bad press, and a view is a view whether you’re watching out of morbid curiosity or because you’re generally interested in what a movie has to say. So why would studios spend more money on post-production if an unfinished movie can make the same amount of money?
This is precisely why I think it’s so important to give this kind of film a fair shake, as giving in to the mindless hate would be to accept a future where studios know that cheap cash-grabs can be just as lucrative as legitimately good (not to mention completed) movies.
At the end of the day, War of the Worlds is by no means a good film, suffering from paper-thin characters and disjointed filmmaking, but it’s definitely not as bad as people are saying. I’d even argue that it’s better than plenty of recent “so-bad-it’s-good” productions due to the fact that there appears to have been an earnest (albeit misguided) effort here to create a real film. I mean, at least it’s not boring, and that’s more than you can say for a lot of straight-to-streaming productions.
So, if you ask me, the people claiming that this is the worst movie ever made are just admitting that they haven’t seen enough movies.