War of the Worlds reboot earns 0% RT rating, marks a rough start for Ice Cube’s sci-fi flick

War of the Worlds, headlined by rapper Ice Cube, seems to be skating on thin ice with its Rotten Tomatoes score.

The film is a screenlife sci-fi thriller that borrows its story from H.G. Wells' 1898 novel of the same name. It premiered on July 30 on Amazon Prime Video to a negative critical reception. Based on the 12 reviews so far, the film has earned a 0% RT's Tomatometer score, making it one of the worst-reviewed films on the aggregator.

It stands in stark contrast to the rapper's most recent project, Apple's The Studio, which earned glowing reviews, a 93% Rotten Tomatoes score, and record-breaking 23 Emmy nominations. So, his fans might be wondering why his new project has been receiving so much flak.

To understand why, let's go through the critics' reactions to his latest movie.

What are critics saying about War of the Worlds?

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Film critics are not on board with the new Prime Video release. As earlier revealed, the film has received 12 reviews so far, and all of them have been negative, which dragged the film's RT score to zero.

In his review, Peter Debruge from Variety wrote:

"Even with a Prime subscription, you have to sit through two minutes of ads to watch 90 more of what amounts to a feature-length commercial for all things Amazon."

That is not the only scathing response from a critic. While speaking about the Ice Cube starrer, Brian Orndorf from Blu-ray.com said:

"There’s a lot of keyboard action and screen switching, and perhaps there’s a Big Idea on the state of surveillance in America, but it’s all turned into generic mush as Lee has little to work with beyond remote production clumsiness."

Todd Jorgenson from Cinemalogue spoke about the film's screenlife approach, which he thought to be a "misguided gimmick." He noted:

"Failing to muster any meaningful suspense from its misguided gimmick, this reimagining of the classic H.G. Wells science-fiction saga becomes more ridiculous as it goes along."

It looks like War of the Worlds hasn't entertained the casual audiences either, evident from the film's 12% Popcornmeter score and a 3.1 IMDb rating. Their reviews are as scathing as the critics'.

More details about War of the Worlds

The new sci-fi flick, helmed by Rich Lee and starring Ice Cube, works with a script by Marc Hyman and Kenneth A. Golde. The film's official synopsis reads as follows:

"A computer security analyst working for the U.S. government finds his daily life disrupted by an alien attack. Accustomed to dealing with virtual threats, his struggle extends to secrets the government may be hiding."

Besides Ice Cube as Will Radford, the film's cast and characters include: