Amazon has barely advertised its recent adaptation of War of the Worlds and, having watched it, I can see why. Imagine the family drama of the 2005 Spielberg version, intertwined with some digital FBI intrigue, all unfolding during a lengthy Teams meeting. The result is something that has to be seen to be believed, for the first 45 minutes at least. After that it gets a bit boring.

Ice Cube is a Department of Homeland Security officer who can use any device on Earth to monitor events. His skills become vital for his family and humanity when a large-scale alien invasion commences.

As An Adaptation

This is another one that’s really easy to pan. With cases like these, I tend to try and be as generous as possible before noting the blatant flaws.

As someone who has read the book and seen a number of adaptations, there were elements of this version that I really liked. For starters, it honours the book’s premise by having the aliens arrive by meteorite, but also modernises them by encasing their robotic tripods in the meteorites themselves.

I like how the aliens have a clear strategy of how to overthrow us; they target our data centres first to harvest our information, then our nuclear facilities and finally our electrical grids, rendering us helpless. This is a very contemporary take on H.G. Wells’ premise; it’s definitely more interesting than the aliens just zapping everything until we’re all gone.

The people who wrote this wanted to bring War of the Worlds to the 2020s and, in terms of worldbuilding, I’d say they succeeded.

As A Film

On paper, an alien invasion film seen through the perspective of civil service Teams meetings isn’t a bad idea. With an understanding of government systems as seen in Shin Godzilla, such a film could work.

War of the Worlds is a basic blockbuster with the standard apocalyptic action and family drama but told from within a Zoom call. The result is hilarious.

We almost never see Ice Cube outside of the headshot he’s framed in. He witnesses worldwide destruction, colleagues in distress, his own children in mortal danger and yet his most physical reaction is him stepping away from his office chair. Nothing could kill tension more.

The comedic value of the filmmaking expired for me at around the 45-minute mark, after that, watching the film became a bit of a chore.

The choices and direction are so baffling, I can’t help but wonder how and why the film got made. What’s the behind-the-scenes story? I want to know.

So while I must give War of the Worlds a shameful 3 out of 10, I have to recommend it. This can’t be dismissed or forgotten as much as Amazon would like it. This needs to be spotlighted and investigated. I can only ask my dear reader to share this post and help bring this out of the shadows. It needs looking at!