Amazon (through Universal Studios) has launched a new version of H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, headlined by Ice Cube, which offers as much an Orwellian, world analysis as an imperialistic, alien attack. In fact, the imperialistic aspect is at best implied, with the real threat being right under our noses.
This adaptation is directed by Rich Lee and scripted by Kenneth A. Golde and Marc Hyman. Instead of the novel's journalist (a character who's been refashioned as a scientist/professor and average, working joe in prior versions, and that long queue includes the 1938 Mercury Theatre take) is now Ice Cube's grouchy, Department of Homeland Security honcho named William Radford, who fills much of the story glaring at the screen: a habit many of us formed during those ghastly, pandemic days. Anyway, Radford's irritation worsens throughout the fable, in particular after "meteors," aka the Martian War Machines, make their calamitous presence known.
Surrounding the assault are decent discussions on the pros and cons of privacy in the governmental, surveillance sector, and this brings in Radford's son, Henry David Hall's Dave, who's linked to a data hub called Goliath (get the Biblical reference?). Along the way, Dave's sister, Iman Benson's pregnant Faith enters the high-tech stakes, with her boyfriend, Devon Bostick's Mark Goodman, being an Amazon driver with the admirable reliability to deliver what's needed to save the day. Incidentally, Clark (The Avengers/Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D) Gregg, plays General Donald Briggs, Michael O'Neill plays Secretary of Defense, Walter Crystal and Eva Longoria plays NASA's roving crackerjack, Dr. Sandra Salas, who supplies a stream of speculation, but is really there to ease the eyes, and hey, I won't complain about that.
Again, the story's 1984 components far outweigh the invasion aspects, and this approach (which does it through a Cloverfield, found-footage flow) may have been better geared for that track than Wells' allegory. When the movie does tap the latter, its visuals serve the purpose, at least as well as CGI will do (and the War Machine designs are darn spiffy), though it would have been nice to have seen actual, full-fledged, flesh-and-blood creatures at some point. It appears that the tripods are run by micro, metal-bio versions, similar to the mechanical cuties featured in *batteries not included, though with the conquering intent of Star Trek's the Borg and Doctor Who's Daleks and Cybermen.
This version's ending smacks of Independence Day, which as everyone knows, is an unofficial War of the Worlds, where it's not a biological virus that halts the entities, but well, you can figure it out. The result does create a valiant outcome, but in light of the movie's heavy dissertation, it may be a little too little, a little too late. Also, Radford's decision to step back from bureaucratic surveillance for moral reasons may seem reasonable at the outset, but with the opportunity to fight global, electronic oppression (and he does have the evident skills for such), the turn could be viewed as contradictory, if not selfish and foolhardy.
The approach for this one is different (and credit must be given for that), but for those wanting a steady, non-choppy succession of Heat-Ray strikes and extended (visual) fights for survival, this modernization might be a letdown, and that's something that no War of the Worlds should ever be.
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