Directed By Patrick Hughes

Starring – Alan Ritchson, Dennis Quaid, Jai Courtney

The Plot – During the final stage of US Army Ranger selection, an elite team’s training exercise turns into a fight for survival against an unimaginable threat.

Rated R for strong violence, grisly images, and adult language.

WAR MACHINE | Official Trailer | Netflix

POSITIVES

On the surface, War Machine might feel like your typical Netflix movie of the week, featuring bro-heavy atmosphere and redundant storytelling that quickly loses its charming flavor before the plot can properly materialize, but Hughes’ doubling down of writing and directing equally helps to flesh out a world of captivating creativity and riveting action to a movie that could accurately be described as Predator meets Lone Survivor, albeit with quite a few compelling aspects to its overall execution that allows this harmlessly engaging story of redemption to blaze its own path to streaming prominence. For starters, the film nobly begins as a military redemption story driven by the pain and anguish of one grieving brother attempting to fulfill the last wish of the fallen, before transitioning midway through into a full scale science-fiction thriller that not only reshapes the stakes of the situational conflict that this group of soldiers terrifyingly face against an unknown adversary, but also allows it ample time and opportunity to flourish the frenetic frenzy of some grippingly tense and highly vulnerable action set pieces, complete with penetrably immersive sound designs that coherently speak volumes about the dire urgency and intense impacts that constantly keeps the engagement on its toes, with very little deviating down time to allow the audience a breath of relief along the way. While the story beats do bare more than a striking resemblance to Predator, in everything from other-worldly antagonists to an eventual conflict resolution that doesn’t stray far from the beaten path of that predecessor, I love that deep down it’s truly a story about moving on from unresolved regret, alongside the vantage perspective of rightfully reserved mystique of Ritchson’s Staff Sergeant 81 character, who on the outside is this perfectly sculpted and dominatingly ideal soldier to any squadron, yet internally feels the suffocating pressure of this preconceived promise between him and his deceased brother (Played by Courtney) serving as the last link to the life he once had. The chemistry between Ritchson and Courtney effortlessly emulates the budding brotherly bond of two men who have sacrificed all for the love of their country, but it’s those stoically resilient moments of isolation for Ritchson that definitely prove him worthy of a leading man presence within the cinematic industry, particularly with Alan’s gut-wrenching grieving and unflinching persistence that make his character feel epically heroic without sacrificing the humanity that is firmly defined from within. While 81 is far from muted, he’s the kind of character who proverbially speaks soft while carrying a big stick, where his reservation of dialogue is typically saved for those powerfully inspirational moments when they matter most to those surrounding peers, with Hughes responsibly treading carefully on melodramatics, and though Ritchson’s physical stature easily makes him perfect for a career in action or superhero movies, he appraises a bountiful level of dramatic depth to the portrayal that prove his future prospects to be endless, bringing a level of professionalism in his approach to the film that truly allows it to stay grounded despite its creative aspirations within the movie’s second half. As for the aforementioned action, Hughes and cinematographer Aaron Morton, inscribe an old-school quality in capture for battle-tested sequences, in that they don’t ask anything of their actors that they’re not willing to enact out of themselves, featuring on-the-ground photography that dazzles enthrallingly without the unnecessary need for shaking-camera effects to painfully convolute each frame. Conceptually, there’s very little about these sequences that feel grandly epic in scope or scale, however they never fail towards keeping me firmly invested to what’s transpiring, and considering Hughes is the very same man who erratically directed The Hitman’s Bodyguard and The Hitman’s Bodyguard’s Wife (Still the worst title in cinema), his noticeable improvement here clearly illustrates experience being the single greatest teacher, with breathtaking sequences so void of detraction and distraction in framing that they feel especially superior to Netflix’s action-heavy catalogue.

NEGATIVES

Though an effectively entertaining and engaging way to burn 101 minutes of boredom on a rainy day, War Machine isn’t without fleeting errors in the expanse of its execution, particularly within the inconsistencies of Hughes screenplay, which doesn’t flesh out the world from within with enough depth to feel fully realized to the experience. The biggest examples certainly stem from the movie’s first act, as well as its epilogue of an ending, which are such integral components to the set-up and resolution to the story, yet feel abrasively rushed within these montage-like sequences that shoe-horn as many tidbits of exposition to the audience as possible without giving us the opportunity to live-in and experience these vital moments for ourselves. While I wholeheartedly understand that a movie containing this level of story should never be two-and-a-half hours, I also feel that its runtime leaves very little wiggle room to execute the most meaningful moments of character development outside of Ritchson’s 81, a fact that is all the more alarming considering we learn so very little about the cast of characters surrounding him, which in turn leaves their deaths falling so flat emotionally. This is especially tragic for an actor like Stephan James, who after stealing the show in What If Beale Street Could Talk? now finds himself deduced to playing the exposition dump character whose only purpose serves as the magnet that emits so many of the contained secrets of 81’s past, and considering Dennis Quaid and Jai Courtney are equally wasted at this movie’s disposal, with the former between the two giving the very definition of phoned-in performance, it proves that the film doesn’t make the most of its marginalized talent, requiring Ritchson to work overtime in keeping his squad and this film on his stoic shoulders. In addition, while Hughes utilizes authenticity in the physically grueling and psychologically stimulating training of Army Rangers, their results on the battlefield feel nothing short of insulting to any brave soul who has pledged an allegiance to this intimate core, particularly with these bafflingly hilarious actions that are meant to even the odds between this squadron and their lone alien antagonist. Everything from characters standing around like statues in open areas unguarded, to their lack of effective recon, to their waiting for proof of hostility, feels largely unmeasured for the remarkable feats of talent that these meticulously trained killers can orchestrate on an enemy, and while I understand that the purpose is to illustrate the magnitude of what these special soldiers are dealing with, I could’ve used more examples of their training paying off, especially considering most of them are dispatched during the initial invasion. Finally, like most Netflix action movies, this one also enlists the help of artificial effects work in C.G objects and greenscreen backdrops, in order to articulate some of their most ambitious action sequences, only they’re so lifelessly tangible and uninfluential that they stand out in the more jarringly abrasive ways possible, such as the opening sequence of the movie conjuring these engulfing explosions. It’s bad enough that these are the first impressions of the movie, setting an unnatural precedent for the rest of the movie thankfully refusing to echo these artistic impulses, but it’s even worse when they’re rendered during what is arguably the most emotionally disarming moment of the entire film, conjuring something hilariously uncanny to a moment that deserved undivided attention, regardless of the stern sensibilities that the movie asks of its interpretive audience.

OVERALL
War Machine is a kinetically action-packed surge of survival science-fiction that satisfyingly delivers everything that you could ask out of Netflix’s current action movie-of-the-week catalogue, even without necessarily breaking new ground in such a derivative subgenre. While the film does occasionally struggle with an underdeveloped script for some of its most vitally rushed story beats, the energetically immersive set pieces and the stoically subdued turn from Alan Ritchson offer enough octane for a comfortably relaxing night in, even if it’s not entirely all it can be

My Grade: 6.5 or C