I’ve said before, I’m a sucker for HG WELL’S THE WAR OF THE WORLDS. It’s a book I hold close to my heart, and I’ve slavishly forced myself to watch (and listen to) pretty much every one of the many adaptations that have been produced over the last century or so. In approximate (not exhaustive) order we’ve had: ORSON WELLES‘ famous panic-inducing 1938 radio production, GEORGE PAL’S beautiful 1953 film, JEFF WAYNE’S improbably successful 1978 musical version, a 1988 TV series sequel to the Pal movie, all manner of independent adaptations (including a few from THE ASYLUM), SPIELBERG’S masterful 2005 movie, an awful 2019 BBC TV adaptation, a mostly excellent (until the budget-slashed final season) three season STUDIO CANAL TV series starring GABRIEL BYRNE and DAISY EDGAR JONES, and now this.
This ‘new’ version of WAR OF THE WORLDS, starring ICE CUBE and EVA LONGORIA isn’t quite the worst film ever made as many people have claimed, but it’s an absolute shite-fest for sure.
A colossal invasion of Earth is coming in this off-kilter take on the legendary novel of the same name, filled with present-day themes of technology, government surveillance, and privacy.
As I understand it, the background to this adaptation is that it was actually made in 2020 during the Covid pandemic, when studios were panicking about how they’d get films produced and released in a world that had been suddenly put on pause. From that perspective, it’s an admirable attempt to do something different. In all other respects, however, it’s an absolute failure.
There’s an inherent problem in adapting Wells’ novel for audiences of today – it’s a thrilling story up until the ending, which is, by today’s standards, woefully anti-climactic. I’m sure you know what happens, so this is hardly a spoiler – the invading aliens are defeated by germs, not mankind. I think to appreciate the full power and impact of Wells’ story, you have to imagine that you’re reading it during the closing years of the nineteenth century. It was a world where communication was slow and relatively ineffective, where technology was basic and steam-driven, and the sudden arrival of all-powerful, hugely advanced alien invaders would have been a truly terrifying prospect. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the impact of WAR OF THE WORLDS on audiences has reduced over time. Given the horrors we’ve inflicted on ourselves, and the fact we carry devices in our pockets that allow us to communicate with pretty much anyone, anywhere in seconds, the invasion as originally told by Wells feels like far less of a threat.
But the reason this adaptation is the least successful is not because it’s the most (in theory) technologically advanced – it’s because it’s shockingly made, badly written, and woefully misguided.
Putting aside the limitations of the original story and the pitiful attempts to update the scenario for a modern day audience, I think the main reason this movie fails so completely is because of the pandemic prescribed format. In case you haven’t heard, the entire thing is shown through a computer screen belonging to Mr Cube as WILLIAM RADFORD – a government security analyst with a cast-iron broadband connection that never goes down despite the entire world being under attack from aliens. It’s a novel approach, one which might have been successful if this was a video game for you to play rather than a movie for you to endure. Christ, the logic doesn’t even make sense – we spend much of the movie watching Cube via his webcam which, nonsensically, is also showing his face on a window on the screen in precisely the way webcams don’t. He’s often front and centre, and the view occasionally zooms in for dramatic effect.
I could go on and on about why the film is a total misfire, but I don’t have the energy nor the time. It’s tiresome, it’s terrible, it’s boring. It drains the last dregs of excitement from the concept and shits it onto your screen. If you like watching irritating people having a Teams meeting or a WhatsApp call with other irritating people while the rest of the world allegedly crumbles around them, then this is the movie for you.
Interestingly, back in 2005 an independent film-maker called TIMOTHY HINES made his own version of WAR OF THE WORLDS which he released around the same time as the Spielberg and Asylum adaptations. There was a lot of excitement for the Hines version, which was true to the spirit and setting on the original novel. Unfortunately, the final film was poorly received (check out the trailer I’ve embedded below and you’ll understand why). It was later cut down to half its length and re-released as WAR OF THE WORLDS: THE TRUE STORY, and you can sometimes find that version on the free movie sites like FAWESOME and TUBI etc. If you really feel the need to watch an awful version of WAR OF THE WORLDS, watch this one instead, and do everything you can to avoid Ice Cube’s computer screen.
No matter how bad the film I’m writing about, I like to try and find something positive to say. But with this latest version or WAR OF THE WORLDS (streaming now on Amazon Prime), I can’t. Christ, even the poster is shit. Avoid. Watch the Spielberg movie again, or try the Studio Canal series (it’s on Disney+) instead.
