MOVIE REVIEW: WARFARE

 

A surveillance mission goes wrong for a platoon of American Navy SEALs in insurgent territory in Iraq.

Director: Ray Mendoza; Alex Garland

Cast: D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Will Poulter, Cosmo Jarvis, Joseph Quinn, Kit Connor, Finn Bennett, Taylor John Smith, Michael Gandolfini, Adain Bradley, Noah Centineo, Evan Holtzman, Henry Zaga, Charles Melton

Release Date: April 11, 2025

Genre: Action, Drama, War

Rated R for intense war violence and bloody/grisly images, and language throughout.

Runtime: 1h 35m

Review:

Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland's Warfare is an intense, nerve-racking retelling of an engagement gone wrong which puts the audience on ground with the platoon.  The film plays out in real time with the script based on testimonial from those involved back on November 19, 2006, in Ramadi, Iraq.  As a result, the plot is about as barebones as they come with the mission and subsequent rescue being the main propulsive force for the narrative.  We are given only the slightest tidbits of information on the respective members of the platoon as we watch them fight for their lives when things go off the rails.  This isn't the type of film that gives you the traditional tropes found in most war films so those looking for deep character exploration might be left wanting to know more about each person.  Mendoza and Garland are much more focused on bringing the chaos and its effect on these mostly 20 something soldiers as they struggle to survive and cope with deeply disturbing situations.  The ensemble cast is made up of a bevy of familiar faces with each delivering excellent work by delivering realistically raw reactions to the traumatic events on display.  There are still displays of heroism, but the film avoids overt jingoism with both sides presented as apolitically as possible.  The action sequences are technically impressive across the board, some of which give you the disorienting sense of shell shock the characters feel. There's an intentionality to everything Mendoza and Garland throw onscreen in Warfare with their aim being to give the audience a small sense of what these people went through for that hour and half and hopefully release some of the pent-up trauma along the way.   

A-