Did the producers at Netflix celebrate when the current U.S. President declared war (not war police action. Not police action, regime change. whatever) on Iran? You have to think one of them did, right? This is probably here nor there.
The basic plotline: A soldier, still grieving the loss of his brother, takes part in Army Ranger qualifications. In his final challenge, the assignment goes haywire when an alien berserker crash-lands in the middle of the proving ground. He and his squad of Rangers in training must fight the machine to survive long enough to warn the world.
Or, y’know, something like that.
It is a thrilling military science fiction story with plenty of action, violence, mayhem, blood, and gore. Seriously, a lot of blood and gore that approaches body horror levels of blood and gore. Director Patrick Hughes decided to linger on very realistic body parts and shredded corpses. Is it accurate to the horrors of war? Probably. Do you want to watch it? YMMV. As a war movie, it has all the requisite elements of grit, honor, trauma, and courage.
Does it fulfill the American audiences’ need to replay World War II for the ten-thousandth time? Sure. At least that’s what struck me as I watched it. This is another generation striving to find the glory of the Greatest Generation through bloody battle. The actors in this film probably have grandparents who fought in the war, maybe great-grandparents. We don’t fight wars like World War II anymore. Just watch the past week’s news.
The War Department is fighting a drone war. There are no boots on the ground. But Pete Hegseth sure is acting like a movie wartime general. Right out of Fox’s central casting.
But back to the review.
Alan Ritchson is fine as a traumatized hero. He’s not got the greatest range as an actor, but this falls nicely within his wheelhouse. The writing is rehashed from lots of sources (Top Gun, An Officer and a Gentleman, Saving Private Ryan, and a lot more). I was reminded of Peter Berg’s 2012 Battleship. But also of Neil Marshall’s 2012 Dog Soldiers. The former because it feels like a version of that film set on land. The latter because it feature’s Marshall’s generous servings of viscera.
If you’ve got the stomach for it and if you’re not maxxed out with battlefield violence, War Machine isn’t terrible. It’s not great, but it is watchable and it’s not objectionably stupid.
I’ll give this 3 stars out of five.
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