“Worst Movie Ever?”: Ice Cube’s War of the Worlds Crashes with 0% on Rotten Tomatoes

The latest reboot of War of the Worlds, released on Amazon Prime Video on July 30, 2025, has landed in the pop culture graveyard with an abysmal 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Based on 12 critic reviews at the time of writing, the sci-fi thriller has also scored a dismal 3.2/10 on IMDb, cementing its status as a critical disaster.

A Reboot No One Asked For?

Starring rapper Ice Cube as government analyst Will Radford and Eva Longoria of Desperate Housewives fame, the film attempts to modernize H.G. Wells’ 1898 classic. Billed as a “thrilling out-of-this-world adventure filled with present-day themes of technology, surveillance, and privacy,” the movie instead ended up being widely panned as a soulless, ad-laden misfire.

Unlike its predecessors—the 1953 version with an 89% Rotten Tomatoes score, and Spielberg’s 2005 version starring Tom Cruise with a 76% rating—this adaptation was directed by Rich Lee and released straight to streaming via Universal Pictures.

Critics Are Merciless

Critics have not held back in their assessments:

• Variety labeled the film a “disaster”, remarking that “even with a Prime subscription, you have to sit through two minutes of ads to watch 90 more of what amounts to a feature-length commercial for all things Amazon.”

• ABC4 Utah shredded its gimmicky presentation, saying:

  “Told entirely through screens and digital devices, this ‘screenlife’ thriller tries to bring H.G. Wells’ classic into the tech era, but not only fails at being entertaining — it fails at being a movie itself.”

Audiences Equally Unforgiving

Viewer reactions across social media and review platforms echo the critical backlash:

“How and why was this made? It’s loaded with Amazon product placement and extremely unwatchable,” one viewer posted, calling it “too cringe for even B-movie laughs.”

Another user shared an image of a USB flash drive from Amazon’s product page shown in the movie, captioning it:
“Yes, this is an actual shot from the film.”

One X (formerly Twitter) user summed up the experience bluntly:
“This new #WarOfTheWorlds movie might be the worst movie I’ve seen in years.”
Another added, “The film’s tagline — ‘It’s worse than you think’ — says it all.”

The Verdict: A Sci-Fi Misfire

Despite its promising IP and big-name stars, War of the Worlds (2025) appears to be an exercise in tone-deaf branding, shallow storytelling, and painful execution. For fans of the genre—or even just curious viewers—this reboot may serve better as a cautionary tale than a weekend watch.