Is 'War of the Worlds' the worst movie of 2025?
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
It's got an epic title, a big-name star as its lead and a major studio behind it.
But since it was released on Amazon's Prime Video on July 25, "War of the Worlds" has become an all-time ratings bust.
The new adaptation of H.G. Wells' book was ranked as one of the worst films of all time by the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.
The film stars Ice Cube as Homeland Security surveillance and threat assessment expert Will Radford, who uses government technology to spy on, and later help, his children amid an unfolding alien invasion. Radford is at his desk the entirety of the film, watching events unfold in front of him on a computer screen.
Eva Longoria, Michael O'Neill, Olivia DeLaurentis and Clark Gregg also star in the movie, which was directed by Rich Lee.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the sci-fi movie has a paltry 3% rating on the "Tomatometer," which tracks critic reviews, and 21% on the "Popcornmeter," which tracks audience reviews.
Rotten Tomatoes' "Worst Movies at All Time" list ranks "War of the Worlds" 88th. The 2002 sci-fi thriller "Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever" is No. 1. The only other title from 2025 to make the list is Sylvester Stallone's "Alarum."
Just one critic, Jordan Hoffman of Entertainment Weekly, gave "War of the Worlds" a certified fresh ranking, writing, "It's certainly stupid, but it's also a great deal of fun."
Most others described the film as the worst take on Wells' 1898 novel about Martians invading Earth. Past adaptations include the Orson Welles-directed CBS Radio broadcast in 1938, a Gene Barry-starring 1953 Technicolor film and Steven Spielberg's 2005 film, which starred Tom Cruise.
Lee "butchers the classic sci-fi parable on humankind's colonialist ills and creates an obnoxiously dull, utterly braindead (arguable bootleg) exercise in capitalist, surveillance state propaganda," wrote one Rotten Tomatoes critic.
Some online noted that they felt like the movie's tagline — which is "It's worse than you think" — is an appropriate way to summarize their reactions to the film itself.
Lee and the cast have not publicly addressed the reaction.
Neither Universal Pictures, which produced the film, nor Amazon Studios, which distributed it, responded to requests for comment. (Universal Pictures is a division of NBC News' parent company, NBC Universal.)
But as with some other films that receive poor reviews, the reaction to "War of the Worlds" has also made it buzzy.
Many viewers have transformed Ice Cube's reactions in various scenes into memes and GIFs.
The film has solidified a place on the online database Know Your Meme.
The website attributes the rise in online traction to a July 21 post on X from the user "PoorOldRoloTony," who shared a clip from the film. The user wrote, "War of the Worlds (2025) is the worst adaption of the source material to date. It had no ideas beyond the found footage approach." The post had been viewed 1.9 million times as of Tuesday.
Users across TikTok and X have also continued to poke fun at the acting, dialogue, oversimplified device hacking and heavy-handed messaging about mass government surveillance and conspiracy theories.
"Sounds like Ice Cube is reading directly from a script that he had never seen before...," a TikToker wrote in the text of their video, which featured a clip from the film. The video has been viewed 1.1 million times.
Another TikToker ranked the "cringiest moments" from the film, including Ice Cube's reaction to his character's son dying.
One TikToker even impersonated Ice Cube, recording themselves dressed as him and reciting lines from the movie.
Some viewers have also criticized the movie's placement of Amazon products, including scenes that feature a Prime Air delivery drone and a character receiving a $1,000 Amazon gift card.
Vetz, a YouTube channel that ranks and review movies, cited the product placement as one of the main reasons the film ranks on its 10 worst movies of 2025 list.
"The worst product placement I've ever seen in my life," said Joel, a reviewer for the channel, which has 261,000 subscribers.
On the popular movie tracking platform Letterboxd, the film averaged just 1 star from the roughly 90,000 people who logged having watched it.
"A 90-minute commercial for an Amazon service that will never leave the pilot stage," one user wrote. "Incredible stuff. Barely a movie. Highly recommended."
Austin Mullen
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I thought the movie had some good qualities, and it did end 'abruptly' as though it ran out of 'gas.' (Jumped to Conclusion.) It, hte movie was very informative and it has a message i about national surveillance in the 21st century through AI data centers. Now, where have you heard that word since the start of 2025? Yep. You got it.
But that said, the alien part of the movie did not do itself justice at all.
. . . Now, I seem to remember people had negative 'output' on Will Smith's lead where he was alone, "I am Legend" and Will Smith and Jaden Smith (son) movie: "AfterEarth." . . . . Is there a trend forming here of some kind?
Now another movie that may prove a 'struggle' for some on Prime: "Abigail." (And don't get me started with " Nosferatu"!
Now I have to watch it. Because honestly...I thought that was Jeffrey Wright not Ice Cube
you may have inhaled too much smoke from all the cross burnings in your county ...
it wasn't that kind of smoke....
I was caught up short by how Ice Cube has aged. That's partly because I have not kept up with his career. The part of the movie that I thought weak: The aliens were a 'no-show' and yet I was given something by how Ice Cube's character is 'dipping in and out of public and private networks using available cameras pervasive everywhere. It seems to have been what—more the point to the story.
I got about five minutes into it before I decided checking for lint in my belly button was more entertaining.
I'll bet of all its iterations, the original radio broadcast was probably the best, and the continuing adaptations became worse every time.
In a sense that is probably true, but I listened to the radio broadcast again within the last couple years, and there are things about it that are very problematic. One of its main attributes is supposedly its realistic "reporting", but that is only true if you ignore the fact that they describe events that could not possibly occur during the span of the one hour radio show.
The "best" iteration of War Of The Worlds is likely HG Wells's novel.
I liked the Tom Cruise version for various reasons but it was not particularly loyal to the original story.
I could not stand Dakota Fanning in that movie. She was just whiny little brat. I really didn't think the movie was very good. They never explained to my satisfaction what all that red was and was it from shredding humans and why deposit it all over the Earth?
Dumb movie
Of course the novel was the best iteration. But keep in mind that the radio broadcast was back well before TV, internet, the days of extreme bias, misinformationa and disinformation, and was the only immediate source of news, back when you could actually rely on the rews being accurate.
I totally forgot it came out. I've been kind of checked out of a lot of extracurricular activities these days (probably due to my depression). I've been doing my writing and a lot of reading.
I'm sorry to hear about the depression. Is it the season? Hope you feel much better soon
Thank you.
Dysthymia - it's a long term, low grade depression that can (and has at times) become major depression. It's something that I've dealt with all my life and do fairly well with, considering.
Thank you again. I am doing better and engaging more. I still don't feel the need to do all the things I once did. Like most people my personal needs change and right now, work is crazy, but homelife is pretty good. The book is doing okay and I'm enjoying getting back into reading like I did when I was younger. The wife and I will be going to see the grandkids in a couple of weeks. That will be fun!
Is anyone ever going to make a War of the Worlds movie worth watching? Don;t send me back to the 50's. I really don't like movies made during that era
My parents gave me the Orson Wells 1938 radio show on cassette tape box set for Christmas one year. A High School English teacher was going to have us read the original H G Wells book, but instead we got to listen to the tapes in class.
I haven't read the book. I should.
it's about an alien expeditionary force that invades earth in search of gullible thumpers to eat, and the sane humans that ultimately fight them off ...
I understand the aliens were brought low by the common cold
it was actually STD's they got from a full church bus when they stopped for lunch. gotta cook them thumpers first ...
lol
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Don't have Amazon Prime so I gues I don't have to worry about it one way or the other