“War of the Worlds”: fake news, real advertising

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Accompanied by a reputation as a complete dud, this umpteenth adaptation of Wells's novel has managed to attract an audience curious about industrial accidents, the better to palm off cynical product placements.

The film stars rapper-actor Ice Cube as a father trying to contact his children as the world is ravaged by a colossal alien attack. (Amazon Prime)

For the past few days, it's been the most-visited page on the film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes: that of War of the Worlds by music video director Rich Lee, a new adaptation of the HG Wells classic distributed by Universal and released since July 30 on Amazon's Prime Video platform. Ninety minutes take place entirely behind closed doors in the office of a US Department of Homeland Security employee, juggling between computer and smartphone screens where chat windows, video conferences, and surveillance videos jostle, starring rapper-actor Ice Cube as a father trying to contact his children as the world is ravaged by a colossal alien attack.

This sudden success is absolutely not due to the quality of the film but to the fact that it has just entered the very select club of films with a score of 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, the ultimate seal of shame that has so far only been awarded to 44 chosen ones, among them Roberto Benigni's Pinocchio , a 3D version of the Nutcracker opera and a film about talking babies (Baby Geniuses 2). Variety , Empire , The Guardian , the Daily Telegraph : everyone went there with their bulldozer review, instantly piquing the curiosity of the spectators who, in turn, let loose copiously – "This film should have been an email" , "I even prefer