WARFARE REVIEW
“There’s much more authenticity on display than we normally get in these sorts of things.”
Anyone going into Warfare thinking that Alex Garland’s involvement makes this some sort of thematic sequel to last year’s Civil War might want to read on. In fact, Garland co-wrote and co-directed this film with Ray Mendoza, an ex-Navy SEAL who wanted to tell his own story, particularly about one dicey incident that took place in Ramadi, Iraq in 2006.
We meet the small group of six Navy SEALS as they’re breaking into a family home to set up a surveillance position to keep an eye on insurgent activity. It’s a fairly relaxed mission until they’re discovered and surrounded by armed men. As they’re trying to escape, a massive bomb explodes, leaving two members of the group severely injured and bleeding out, as the team gets trapped in the building, waiting to be evacuated.
In the past few decades alone, there have been many admirable war films, movies such as Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down, Sam Mendes’ Jarhead and 1917, and Peter Berg’s Lone Survivor, all showing brave soldiers facing untenable odds. Warfare joins these with a relatively more compact story that takes place over just a few short hours, but one that is so full of authenticity and factual writing that at times, it almost feels like you’re watching a documentary.
As with most war movies and the military in general, there’s a point for everyone to look fairly the same, but that makes it harder to distinguish or recognize many of the actors, even though there are many familiar names among the group. The most recognizable and yet also the least recognizable is Will Poulter, playing a deathly serious role, very unlike the dorky and humorous characters he often plays. Seeing him in Death of a Unicorn after watching this movie was like whiplash. All the actors are decent, though, and you can tell that they were put through the stereotypical boot camp that regularly comes with acting in these movies. D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, whose work I’m unfamiliar with – apparently, he stars in the series Reservation Dogs – represents Ray himself, but I was particularly impressed by Cosmo Jarvis as Elliot, one of the soldiers who is badly injured.
The performances by Jarvis and Joseph Quinn’s Sam after the explosion, writhing on the ground in excruciating pain, makes you really feel what they’re going through, and it makes the second half of the movie incredibly hard to watch. (Although this was a serious incident where people died, I couldn’t help but be amused every time I saw a sole severed arm just lying in the street, something we see many times. At one point, a soldier runs out to retrieve a sledgehammer and other “supplies,” ignoring the arm.)
Even considering the able guidance of Alex Garland, this is an impressive debut from Mendoza, with everything from the set-up to the way the film builds the tension and the stakes as time passes, always keeping the viewer on their toes. The fact that this is anywhere close to the level of a Black Hawk Down really sends the mind reeling, since that was a movie made by a master filmmaker decades into his career.
Warfare is a fine addition to the battle movie genre, especially since there’s much more authenticity on display than we normally get in these sorts of things. Much of that can be attributed to Mendoza’s direct involvement in telling his own story. I certainly will be interested to see if Mendoz keeps making films and branches away from this particular genre, but for now, Warfare is an admirable debut and a powerful achievement.
Rating: 7.5/10
Warfare will hit theaters nationwide on Friday, April 11.