War of the Worlds

Will Radford is a Homeland Security analyst who monitors threats by sifting through a vast mass surveillance system. When a sudden, unexplained attack occurs, the patterns he trusted start to look like gaps or intentional omissions. As he follows leads, Radford's confidence in official answers cracks, and he starts digging for the truth while juggling pressure from superiors and the fear of what exposing it might mean for his family and country. The film keeps its focus tight on his shifting loyalties and the growing sense that the public may be kept in the dark about the real scale and source of the danger.

Directed by Rich Lee and released in 2025, the movie credits H. G. Wells along with Marc Hyman and Kenny Golde as creators, positioning itself as a contemporary adaptation of Wells' material, and features Ice Cube, Eva Longoria, Clark Gregg, Iman Benson, and Henry Hunter Hall.

The theatrical run arrived amid crowded genre releases and didn't dominate headlines, earning a modest theatrical profile rather than blockbuster attention. Marketing pushed the surveillance angle and big-name casting, but box office conversation stayed relatively muted compared with larger franchise films that year.

Critical reaction skewed mixed to negative, the film holding a 4.22 out of 10 average from viewers, though some reviewers noted strong, grounded turns from Ice Cube and Eva Longoria. Commentators pointed to familiar tropes and uneven pacing, while many appreciated the attempt to turn a classic alien-threat premise toward questions of data, secrecy, and institutional trust.

As a modern War of the Worlds take, the film prompted discussion about updating public-domain science fiction for the digital age, and the casting choices sparked social media debate. Certain sequences nod to classic imagery, and the emphasis on surveillance and governmental opacity connected with ongoing cultural conversations about privacy, technology, and who gets to control information.