"War of the Worlds" – the worst movie of 2025

With the halfway point of 2025 having already passed, the silver screen has seen some amazing movies. Some movies were able to get into pop-zeitgeist like “Sinners,” new action-packed superhero movies like “Superman” or “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” and new comedic sequels like "Happy Gilmore 2.” 

However, not every movie has been a home run this year. The movie “War of the Worlds” gained prominence on TikTok for scoring a 3%, as of this writing, on Rotten Tomatoes, which piqued my interest because I have never seen such a low score for a new movie

. 

I learned very quickly in this movie that the 3% they received was an earned score. Every aspect of the movie struggled, whether it was the acting, the plot, the editing, the writing, the effects, the cinematography or the ending.  

The movie was not lacking star power as it featured Ice Cube, Eva Longoria, Clark Gregg and Michael O’Neill. These actors have been successful in other movies and TV shows, but it felt like they phoned it in and just wanted a check. 

Throughout the movie, the actors severely lacked emotions and a sense of care about the movie. The best example of this lack of performance was from the main protagonist played by Ice Cube. 

Ice Cube’s line delivery in many scenes felt like he was reading from his script and did not know what he was going to say until it left his mouth. He was not the only one who gave me this feeling, but his was the most egregious. 

Ice Cube’s character work also needed some improvement and care. Ice Cube portrayed Will Radford, a Department of Homeland Security computer analyst who monitors security cameras and runs threat analysis on high-priority cyber terrorists. 

Radford is a widower with two adult children, and he uses his position at DHS to keep an eye on them. He not only uses security cameras but also their phones, computers, dash cams and even their refrigerator. 

He is shown to be an overbearing parent, but he just wants to protect his kids. The only problem is that when they are put in danger, Ice Cube does not convey that he is concerned for their well-being. 

In a couple of scenes, Radford’s son, Dave, is in danger and appears to be dead. While Dave does survive, the audience does not know this. However, based on how Radford reacts to the supposed death of his son, we have a good idea that he will survive. 

The reaction Ice Cube gives is a similar reaction someone would have if their dinner reservation they had for a couple of months was cancelled by the restaurant. He just seems mildly upset that his youngest child is now dead. 

The acting was not the worst part of this movie. Those honors will go to the camera shots and editing of the movie. 

An important fact to know about this movie is that it is shot from the perspective of Will Radford’s computer. It will show Ice Cube’s character from his webcam’s viewpoint, and all interactions with other characters are through FaceTime and Zoom meetings. 

This is a novel, different way to shoot a movie in concept, but in practice, it helped make the movie feel inauthentic. This is what could have led the actors’ line delivery to feel stagnant because they could have just been talking to a green screen rather than reading the lines to each other.  

This style also limits what the characters can do. When Radford leaves his desk, which is only a few times, it shows him running and moving on security cameras, but the characters he was talking to are still on his computer screen, talking to him. 

Most likely, he transferred the calls to his phone and can hear them because he has earbuds, but it can lead to confusion for the viewer because this is either expressed very quickly or not explained at all. 

The film also uses many photos and videos that have been shown to be stock footage throughout the film. While this can be a helpful tool, it should be used sparingly. 

The film’s footage is not supported by the editing process. They often helped take the audience further out of the movie. 

The green screen  being used for Ice Cube to use as his computer can be seen reflecting off his glasses. Sometimes the editors remembered to change this, but there are several scenes where you can see the green screen. 

The CGI in the movie also leaves a lot to be desired. As the title suggests, this movie is about an alien invasion of Earth.  

The aliens looked so bad that the movie was accused online of using AI to generate the creatures. While these comments have been debunked, they show how the movie struggled to create realistic images for the viewer to be wowed or amazed by. 

The end of the movie also suffers from the editing process. They create faked newspaper reports of the aftermath of the invasion and use poor Photoshop skills to show the main characters together at the end, posing for a picture at a baby shower. 

Another poor editing choice was the big climax scene. It shows Will Radford sticking a flash drive into a server to defeat the aliens while they are attacking his building.  

To add suspense, the camera cuts back and forth between Radford’s face as he is tripped by the aliens and him attempting to insert the drive. When they focus on the drive, it looks like the editors used a boomerang effect from Instagram to loop the footage of the drive struggling to be inserted. 

This artistic choice led to laughter rather than wondering if he could save humanity from this viewer.  

The overall feeling left by the movie was that it was a rushed project and incomplete. The tagline for the film is “It’s worse than you think," which is the best way to describe how it feels to watch it.