Ben Oliver
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03 August 2025

War of the Worlds

“Now, I’m watching you.”
Banner image for War of the Worlds

Probably not the War of the Worlds adaptation you’re thinking of. This one involves Ice Cube just sitting at a desk. Eva Longoria also sits at a desk.

I can see why this got made in the pandemic, everything unfolds on a screen and via video call. Why it got released in 2025 I cannot explain, it’s like a side project someone did for fun, not meant for public consumption.

It’s about aliens but also it’s about government surveillance and excessive data capture. Because I shit you not, the aliens in this are ‘attracted to data’ and are hoovering it up like mad. Don’t worry dear reader I also don’t know what this means. If you start just writing ones and zeroes on a napkin do they come for you?

There is a fragment of a good idea here - a man who spends his life at his desk has to sit and watch the world get attacked on his screen - but the film almost goes out of its way to avoid engaging with its central conceit.

Like most so bad it’s good stuff it’s mostly just very dull. However I have to say the completely-set-in-a-computer premise here does elevate this from ‘total shit’ to ‘baffling shit’.

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