War of the Worlds
Short description
A cybersecurity analyst for Homeland Security uses a mass surveillance system to monitor global threats. When an unknown entity attacks, he begins to suspect the government is concealing the truth from the public. This leads to the discovery of an alien invasion involving giant robots, forcing the protagonist to help his children survive the onslaught while the military launches a counteroffensive. The story explores themes of privacy and technology.
Directed by Rich Lee, this was the first of two films he directed by 2026. The cast features Ice Cube as William Radford, Eva Longoria as scientist Sandra Salas, and Clark Gregg as Donald Briggs, alongside Iman Benson, Henry Hunter Hall, and Devon Bostick. The production was a collaboration between Universal Pictures, Bazelevs Entertainment, and Patrick Aiello Productions.
The film had a budget of 10 million USD. Audience reception was generally negative, with a 2.5/10 rating on IMDb from 33,000 votes and a 4/10 rating on TMDB from 1,145 votes. Film critics gave the movie an even lower score of 2/10 based on 50 reviews, indicating that professional critics viewed the film more unfavorably than the general audience.
What's left behind the scenes
- The news reports of alien actions and the destruction they caused were, in fact, real news broadcasts about various kinds of disasters and their consequences, with the tripods simply inserted into the footage using digital technology.
- Initially, William Radford was written as a character suffering from paralysis of the lower extremities, which would have fit the film's themes of pandemic and people constantly sitting in front of screens, but director Rich Lee was so impressed by Ice Cube's throwing of a chair during his audition that he ordered the script (and this character) to be changed accordingly.
- The film was shot in the summer and autumn of 2020, during the height of the coronavirus pandemic and the restrictions imposed because of it.
- The invaders are able to cope with the armies of various countries on Earth because they “absorb” all databases, thereby grounding all aircraft worldwide and immobilizing ships, cars, etc. Nevertheless, the main characters somehow manage to retain the ability to use drones and even send a couple of B-2 bombers to level a certain building to the ground.
- Universal Pictures took on this project at the suggestion of Timur Bekmambetov (who had previously produced similar successful films), who explained to the studio executives that it would be a high-budget science fiction film at the cost of a cheap thriller.
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