Movie Review: Warfare

4.5 stars out of 5

I really don’t go to see many war movies. Platoon, Casualties of War, Heartbreak Ridge, Three Kings, maybe a few others, I don’t remember, all that dust and guns. But when I noticed that my boy Alex Garland (Civil War, Annihilation, Ex Machina) was the co-writer and co-director here, I enlisted immediately.

Warfare is no-nonsense filmmaking: 95 tight minutes, showing an incident that took place in 2006 during the Iraq War, in real time, based solely on the recollections of the Navy SEAL participants (one of whom, Ray Mendoza, is the other co-writer/co-director). The movie makes no value judgements — the platoon has forcibly taken over an occupied two-family building to observe and if necessary, stop, local hostile activity — though clearly we are rooting for the safety of the SEALs.

Also, because of the attention to reality, we don’t get the clichés of army-movie squadrons: the tough guy from Brooklyn, the hot-headed Latino, the bookish one, the soulful black dude, the midwest everyman, the coward, etc. When the (spoiler alert) shit goes down in this film, I will admit to even losing track of a few of the characters. The personnel here are simply portrayed as real, brave, loyal, highly competent individuals. I did at least have the “hook” of recognizing some of the actors; most prominent is D’Pharoah Woon-A-Tai (as communications officer Mendoza) who was so excellent as Bear in Reservation Dogs. A mustachioed Michael Gandolfini is likeable. I’m not familiar with Will Poulter but he gives off the confident energy of a young Michael Keaton. And Charles Melton from Riverdale (and terrific in May December) is superb in a situation requiring someone to tag in and take charge.

I think that’s what really impressed me: In an awful and violent SNAFU, the movie conveys how members of this platoon fall back on their training to follow orders and standard operating procedures, to look out for one another, to improvise when needed, and to be honest when they are simply unable to function at 100%. Warfare is a stellar piece of filmmaking.

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