The newest adaptation of War of the Worlds is making headlines – for all the wrong reasons. This sci-fi catastrophe is one of the lowest-rated films of the year, with clips showcasing the awful acting and awkward Zoom call format going viral across social media. It was hard to pick only a few, but here are the most bizarre moments from War of the Worlds.
5. The bad guys are revealed to be aliens that feed on data
War of the Worlds adaptations usually put their own unique spin on the book, but this one is certainly…interesting. Will, played by Ice Cube is a surveillance and threat assessment expert for the Department of Homeland Security. For some reason, this gives him access to the location and video feed of anyone he wants. After a catastrophe hits the United States, Will figures out that the robots crashing into Earth are actually aliens, who locate data centres and feed on the information to become stronger. No, this doesn’t make any sense to us either.
4. Will’s son is revealed as the nefarious hacker, The Disruptor
Ice Cube is not the best actor, and moments like this really highlight it. When Dave (Henry Hunter Hall) reveals himself as the hacker Will has been looking for, The Disruptor, Will jumps out of his chair shouting, “It’s you?”. The constraints of the video call format are really felt here as we watch what is supposed to be a dramatic reveal over an awkward FaceTime. Will paces back and forth in shock, comically only staying in frame of the camera as his son tries to explain himself. No Oscar nominations here.
3. Mark (Devon Bostick) saving the day with Amazon Prime
As tensions rise, Will racks his brain for a solution to defeat the data-hungry aliens. Will’s daughter Faith, her boyfriend Mark, and NASA worker Dr. Sandra Salas develop a virus to corrupt the aliens’ data. That’s when Mark comes up with the genius idea to send Will a USB stick that contains the virus. When Will points out that he’s in a “top-secret military installation” that doesn’t allow deliveries, Mark suggests using Prime Air. In what honestly feels like an ad-read, he tells Will to place an “official order on Amazon” and calls the Prime Air drones “the future of technology”. There’s a whole sequence in the film where Will step-by-step goes on the Amazon site and orders the flash drive.
An unknown drone flying over a government building at the end of the world feels way more suspicious than a regular delivery guy, but no one seems to care about that.
2. Will breaks into a bunker
With the drone-delivered USB stick in tow, Will breaks into the bunker where the secret government surveillance operator, Goliath, is kept. In a comically dramatic moment, he shouts, “I love you guys” before the big action of the film- Ice Cube plugging a USB stick into a computer. Not quite the epic final battle the tense music wants you to think it is.
1. Will’s reaction to his son’s death
What is supposed to be one of the emotional high points of the film has become its most meme-ified. As Dave runs outside to try and escape from the robot alien invasion, his call breaks up, leading Will to believe he just watched his son die. He reacts to this with the same level of emotion as you would to missing the bus. He then opens WhatsApp to ask, “Are you OK?”. Father of the year?
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Featured image by: Amazon Prime
