There are not many movies that can truly be considered ‘so-bad-it’s-good’. Tommy Wiseau’s The Room is rife with unbridled authenticity as Wiseau wrote, directed, funded, and even stars in the film. The 2005 animated classic Hoodwinked is arguably elevated by its awful animation. And Sharknado is a testament to not only acknowledging, but leaning into the ridiculousness of its own concept.
There is a certain charm in all of these films, a sense of genuineness that enthrals the audience and results in a fun viewing experience… despite the movies’ many shortcomings. That being said, War of the Worlds, and I would particularly credit this to Amazon’s influence over the movie, commits bad cinema’s biggest sin: soullessness. As a result, all the film delivers is a poorly made and poorly executed project that leaves the viewer more dumbfounded than anything over how so many people signed off on this.
The general concept of the movie is not awful. There is definitely some potential in a reimagining of H.G. Well’s classic sci-fi novel set in the modern context of a world glued to their screens. However, it all comes down to execution which the film fails miserably at.
Much of the film’s action unfolds through the reactions of Department of Homeland Security officer Will Radford (played by Ice Cube) as he monitors events from his government surveillance office. Without the occasional shots of clunky CGI alien robots, these scenes resemble a grown man playing Among Us for the first time. Director Rich Lee could have taken some pointers from Modern Family’s “Connection Lost” episode – which aired a decade ago – on how to tell a story entirely over video call. Instead, Lee, best known for his music videos, delivers some of the flattest and most indifferent reactions to an alien invasion ever seen in cinema.
As mentioned earlier, Amazon’s influence over this movie is about as subtle as the invading alien robots. In a movie where titanic extraterrestrials descend on Earth to steal our data, there is a certain irony in the incessant promotion of corporate giant Amazon. It’s no exaggeration that this constant advertisement smothers any potentially fun parts of this movie.
Even the brief joy any Diary of a Wimpy Kid fans will experience seeing Devon Bostick (who plays Mark Goodman, the boyfriend of Ice Cube’s daughter) quickly fades as it becomes apparent he plays nothing more than a walking Amazon advertisement.
The climax of the movie is quite literally solved by the characters receiving an Amazon drone delivery, drawing a vaguely amusing comparison between the alien robots and Amazon’s own technology. Sadly, whilst War of the Worlds delivers a few laughs, its complete willingness to sellout, strips the movie of any authenticity, charm, and soul leaving a shallow husk of a film that could have honestly been quite fun.