Sci-Fi Adaptation War of the Worlds Scores 0% on Rotten Tomatoes (theguardian.com)
- Reference: 0178595318
- News link: https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/25/08/06/1934242/sci-fi-adaptation-war-of-the-worlds-scores-0-on-rotten-tomatoes
- Source link: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/aug/06/war-of-the-worlds-remake-amazon-prime
The movie sat unreleased for approximately five years before streaming debut. Critics cite poor visual effects that "wouldn't pass muster on a whimsical Snickers ad" and performances where actors appear to be "performing in a Zoom-style vacuum." The film was shot using screenlife format with most action unfolding on computer screens.
[1] https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/war_of_the_worlds_2025
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/aug/06/war-of-the-worlds-remake-amazon-prime
I just watched the trailer (Score:2)
If you like sci/fi with lots of special effects and dramatic music this show is for you, they should have given it it's own title not recycling the "war of the worlds" name, lots of drama in this movie if you like tragedy/drama in your sci/fi, I am sure it is watchable to those that like that sort of sci/fi
Re: (Score:2)
> If you like sci/fi with lots of special effects and dramatic music this show is for you, they should have given it it's own title not recycling the "war of the worlds" name, lots of drama in this movie if you like tragedy/drama in your sci/fi, I am sure it is watchable to those that like that sort of sci/fi
I dunno, man. The trailer may look that way, but from people that usually like sci-fi of all stripes it ends up being a really difficult/unenjoyable watch.
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> If you like sci/fi with lots of special effects and dramatic music this show is for you, they should have given it it's own title not recycling the "war of the worlds" name, lots of drama in this movie if you like tragedy/drama in your sci/fi, I am sure it is watchable to those that like that sort of sci/fi
Then watch the actual movie and get back to us.
ALL trailers look good...well, except the crappy Superman trailers.
How about it is just stupid? (Score:2)
Aliens attacking us because they want data? WTF? What would any human data matter to aliens? If they're so data hungry and they can send ships around the universe hoovering up data, can't they just create data generators on their own?
The whole premise of the movie was ridiculously stupid.
Re: (Score:3)
I'm willing to go along with a stupid reason, as long as it doesn't undermine the plot. Countries have gone to war over guano. But I draw the line when naked aliens who are killed by water invade a planet which is covered by water that often falls from the sky.
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Maybe Zuckerberg is an alien.
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Maybe they're a capitalist species that thinks they're on the verge of inventing artificial intelligence and putting most of their workers out of a job if they could just get access to enough data for training, but they've already fed it everything they can get from their own civilization and it wasn't enough.
Bet they didn't think of that in 2020.
Re: (Score:2)
There are actually some interesting quantum data and simulation angles they could have taken. Quite interesting as far as thought experiments go.
[1]https://www.techexplorist.com/... [techexplorist.com]
[2]https://www.rudebaguette.com/e... [rudebaguette.com]
Regarding the movie, I can't see any human derived drivel being of any use to an advanced civilization (maybe they are looking for ways to destroy natural ecosystems on a planetary scale...).
[1] https://www.techexplorist.com/living-simulated-universe-suggests-gravity-backed-theory/99299/
[2] https://www.rudebaguette.com/en/2025/06/space-time-has-memory-radical-new-theory-suggests-the-universe-remembers-shaking-the-foundations-of-cosmology/
I watched it. (Score:3)
Normally I read the reviews of any movie, but last Friday night I watched this in our little home cinema with my wife without checking.
First, it helps if you have ADD to watch this as the social media interaction is fast and furious. It’s really an ode to how over connected we are.
It was full of product placements for Amazon and Microsoft. I’m not sure if any scene had more than one actor on a screen at a time. It was like a work from home acting experience. The military scenes were library footage. The focus of IceCube on his kids was an annoying plot device, so we skipped a lot of those bits.
The metaphor of the aliens wanting suck up our data to destroy us was ironic given AI and were we heading.
Eva was looking good for her age and we did make it to the end.
I give it 3/10.
Re: (Score:2)
> It was like a work from home acting experience.
That's because it was. This movie was shot five years ago , right smack in the middle of the pandemic.
Why they chose the release it now, five years later, instead of binning it and taking the tax writeoff is beyond me.
3/10 on IMDB (Score:2)
This places it solidly in the worst 100 films of all time. Impressive!
Obligatory MST3K Reference (Score:2)
But is it bad enough to be a great MST3K film? How does it rate against "Manos: The Hands of Fate"? "Zindy"? "The Beast of Yucca Flats"?
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It's not "so bad it's good" bad. It's "I'd rather be watching HR training videos" bad.
Velma (Score:2)
You'll hate watch it. And I'll make a bunch of money off of you when you do.
Social media and the internet has completely broken our brains. Honestly they weren't in very good shape to begin with. I mean I've been living in a constant state of mild terror over the economic situation for the last 15 years waiting for the next foot to drop.
At some point in your life you figure out what a cyclic downturn is and you realize the economy and the world is fundamentally rigged against you.
User hostile al
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> PBS just shut down.
I see zero evidence that this is true. CPB is shutting down, PBS will continue to broadcast. For now.
but will it crush Plan 9 from outer Space? (Score:2)
will it?
They said it couldn't be done. (Score:5, Funny)
In an era when humans can barely agree that breathing clean air is a positive goal to strive for, it was said it was impossible to get them to agree on anything. But Universal Pictures said, "We can bring people back together!" And, to the absolute shock of everyone, they managed to do it. They released a sci-fi movie that nobody can love. I have been reading smatterings of conversations from those brave enough to attempt to watch this travesty and not a single person has one positive thing to say about it. Not even the usual, "Horrible movies can sometimes be entertaining," folks can find anything positive to say. It's literally universally disliked, and not in such a way where it's almost enjoyable to hate it. It's just atrocious on every level.
And today, when nobody seems to agree on anything, it's just beautiful to see something that nearly everyone can agree on. You either already know you don't want to watch it, or you dare to brave it and end up not liking it. Well done, Universal. You did the impossible and brought us back together, even if only for a moment. I applaud your efforts.
Re: (Score:2)
Plus, nothing is useless, the worst can still be used as a bad example. Universal might just prompt its AI movie generator "Make a movie that is nothing like that 2025 War of the Worlds remake!".