That is a headline I had no idea I was going to end up writing when I got out of bed this morning. Yes, you read that right. Ice Cube, of NWA, and that xXx sequel is comin’ straight outta Amazon Prime for a new version of War of the Worlds.
Just as you are recovering from this news, let’s hit you with the fact that this adaptation of the H.G. Wells story has already been made, and it has a trailer.
The adaptation is set in modern-day and is part of an acknowledged sub-genre of films called “screenlife”. What is this screenlife, I hear you ask…
It is a sub-genre in which the entirety of the story takes place across, and is told through, screens. Computers, tablets, phone screens, camera recordings, found footage, and so on.
It was started by movies like Unfriended and Dashcam, and any parent these days will no doubt find this depressingly on point. It feels like we all need to go outside and climb a tree, or something.
In this version of War of the Worlds, Mr. Cube stars as Will Radford. He is a top cyber-security analyst for Homeland Security (but, of course!), who spends his days tracking potential threats to national security through a secret mass surveillance program.
An attack by an unknown entity leads him to question whether the government is hiding something from him and the rest of the world.
Eva Longoria, Clark Gregg, Andrea Savage, Henry Hunter Hall, Iman Benson, Devon Bostick, and Michael O’Neill co-star in the film. Rich Lee directs from a script by Kenneth Golde and Marc Hyman.
Here is the trailer:
Patrick Aiello and Timur Bekmambetov produce the film. War of the Worlds lands on Amazon on July 30th.
Now, wake me up when Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Sugar Hill Gang remake Village Of The Damned.
