Microsoft Teams may receive a Razzie nomination for being part of one of the worst films of the year. War of the Worlds (2025) currently sits at 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, earning the honor of being tied for last place out of every film in history.
To the film’s credit, it has a 20% audience score — notably more than its 0% from reviewers.
“What does this have to do with Windows or Microsoft?” you are likely asking. “I don’t open Windows Central to read about terrible movies starring Ice Cube.”
Both valid points if I was discussing another movie. But the premise of the new War of the Worlds centers around digital communication.
Ice Cube is in the same room for much of the movie and often communicates through Microsoft Teams. War of the Worlds is a “screenlife” movie, meaning it depicts a story through computer screens or other electronic devices.
Instead of running onto the street and fighting an alien, Ice Cube’s character yells to his daughter to “get out of there!”
It’s a novel concept that the film’s co-producer said was done because a modern alien invasion would likely be watched by the general public through smartphones. But according to experts and everyday viewers, the movie fell short.
YouTuber Adam Does Movies tore War of the Worlds apart:
“I really don’t like how a lot of modern reviewers say outlandish statements like “This is the worst movie ever made”. Mainly because it devalues films like War of the Worlds, who had to work really hard to actually be one of the worst movies ever made.”
Audience feedback hasn’t been much better.
The film features several big-name brands. Spoiler alert — I guess — for a film you should probably never watch. At one point an Amazon delivery person has to fly a drone to deliver a USB drive.
Spotify is also the main character’s music app of choice, which is a bit funny since War of the Worlds is an Amazon Prime movie and Amazon has its own music streaming service.
Microsoft Teams and WhatsApp make appearances throughout War of the Worlds as well. Though Microsoft may appreciate that critics seem to have incorrectly identified which apps are used by the characters on screen.
Unlike Microsoft’s uphill battle to get people to call Surface devices the correct name, this is a situation in which the tech giant shouldn’t invest time and effort to have its name associated with a project.
This scene from War of the Worlds that @kj_nh1719 sent me was absolutely absurd https://t.co/HtUBSFr5bf pic.twitter.com/D6rbJEF7kYAugust 1, 2025
I understand that adapting a movie that came out in 1898 may require some modernization, but Amazon Prime’s attempt has fallen short in the eyes of reviewers and the general public.
War of the Worlds was filmed in 2020, which may explain why remote work is so prevalent in the movie and the main character appears to be the only person in his office.
If the movie had been filmed in 2025, we might have seen Copilot and Microsoft Teams in action while Ice Cube drove a Mercedes. Sadly, that functionality was only announced this year, which was half a decade too late to appear in War of the Worlds.
Oh well, maybe we’ll get a sequel in which Ice Cube uses Teams while wearing an Apple Vision Pro and sitting in a self-driving car.
