War of the Worlds
1/2 out of ★★★★
“Students, don't forget to submit your video project by the end of the semester!" a teacher kindly reminds the whole class. This was the exact line that came to my mind watching the newest War of the Worlds remake, directed by Rich Lee and starring Ice Cube. Part of the fun in consuming critical reception and watching the movie yourself is to see whether you agree, disagree of have new things to say about it. Hearing perspectives from everyone, then forming your own independent thoughts and feelings about it, is just exciting in a way. Which brings me to this. Ok, I'll admit that War of the Worlds probably isn't the worst thing made in existence, but it's still unwatchable, morally bankrupt, disorienting (not in a good way) and didn't need to be made at all.
Ice Cube plays a DHS officer Will Radford, who has access to a government surveillance program that can track basically everyone. This includes him spying on random people, his children, and just doing about anything else that's distasteful. Throw in a friend Sandra (Eva Longoria) from NASA, stock characters that include DHS Director Donald Briggs (Clark Gregg), the President, extraterrestrial beings that are cyborgs and you get this overplotted, pandering mess shot completely in screenlife, with something to say, yet morally repugnant. I personally fundamentally disagree with the visual gimmick, as its mismatched scale of being online compared to the entire world breaks the stakes. But it's probably also because it's shot so bizarrely; there are unnecessary zoom-ins, constant movement of the screen, laggy video calls, glitchy screens, cheap effects, you get the gist. It's so chaotic, as the multiple plots intertwine with each other, juggling just about everything, that it gets mentally exhausting to watch and process. I’d be fine with the exhaustion if it served a purpose, to convey a feeling, but this just feels like a consequence. High-quality and polished videos on YouTube could easily do a better job.
It also doesn't help that there's basically no actual performance here. Ice Cube, who is the main star on the screen for almost the entire time, can only move his mouth and nothing else. His tone is basically the same throughout, except when he audibly shouts "oh my god", but there is basically zero change in facial expressions. It's like watching a catatonic person speak. I unintentionally laughed a little too hard at the scene when he saw online footage of the machines causing total destruction, then cutting to him saying "damn." And yes, there's something about his character constantly spying on his children that just feels wrong. There's the smallest semblance of an arc where Will has a sudden change in heart and respects the childrens' privacy now, but the whole movie suggests otherwise.
After whatever happens in the first half, the chaos settles down as the Disruptor reveals the truth and it pivots into interesting themes about betrayal, secrecy, data collection and corruption. He exposes the true nature of the Goliath program, and despite the various logical inconsistencies, including how sacrificing most of the world for improved data collection systems just doesn't make much sense, War of the Worlds slightly improves. There seems to be some potential and momentum.
And the goodwill here basically vanishes, when the climax reveals itself to be a deliberate product placement for Amazon. Yes, an Amazon drone saves the day. For a movie that emphasises on the importance of data and its security, the moral positioning it writes itself to is just… hypocritical. It basically contradicts whatever point the midsection intends to create.
I don’t have much more to say about it, but just a closing thought. I genuinely cannot think of any substantial improvements to this that would warrant a recommendation, or a good reason for it to even be made in the first place. The visual presentation is unsuitable for this kind of material, and while there are two minor things that don’t make this absolute zero, it exists as another advertisement to convince users to prioritise their services. This isn’t art. This isn’t even entertainment. A random Flex Seal commercial is far more convincing and engaging than this.
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