After pulling the first big flex of 2021 by revealing pretty much their entire movie slate and promising a new original movie every single week, Netflix delivers their latest attempt at delivering big action blockbusters: Outside the Wire. At first look, it seems like just another sci-fi action flick, but within its opening moments, the film reveals some interesting anti-war sentiments
Set in a near future where a civil war is brewing across the former Soviet Union and robotic soldiers called “Gumps” are introduced into warfare. The film follows talented but arrogant drone pilot, Lt. Harp (Damson Idris), who is forced to see the battlefield past a screen after disobeying a direct order to kill two marines in order to save 38. He is sent to work under Captain Leo (Anthony Mackie), a classified cyborg meant to emulate human behavior, in order to stop an extremist (Pilou Asbaek) from launching nukes towards major US cities, but their mission takes unexpected turns
When Outside the Wire is focused on Harp’s experience on the battlefield for the first time, there’s actually something very impactful about it. When Harp talks about what he felt in the moment that his decision caused this moral bug within the chain of command, you can feel this divide about the cost of lives vs. progress. He’s so goal-oriented and unaware of what it’s really like outside the wire fences of a base that he’s become cold and uncaring about the fellow soldiers and civilians he’s supposed to be protecting. Human lives are just collateral to him in the efforts of ending this civil war. His coldness isn’t a total turn off, though, as Idris still maintains a shred of humanity in his performance to stop Harp from fully replicating the robots around him. All of this is what makes his time on the battlefield so impactful and the film’s anti-war messaging so interesting.
Watching Harp in the middle of tense combat situations for the first time, or dealing with having to do dirty things under the radar, or even killing someone face-to-face really showcase the horrors of war in a way that slowly allows the audience to become more connected with Harp. Idris elevates that connection through his performance, as we see Harp’s mindset begin to understand the horrors of war and these thought-provoking, anti-war ideas make the film standout amongst the slew of other action flicks that Netflix has brought to their platform.
However, the film tries to do too much and becomes overstuffed with messages and ideas that feel half-baked. With threads about military interference, the fears of robotic sentience, the issues of bringing robots into warfare, race in the military, and breaking the chain of command, Outside the Wire just has too much going on. It tries to shove in so many ideas that don’t get fleshed out that it just weighs down the entire film. It’s honestly so overbearing at times that the more impactful and intriguing messages about anti-war eventually become lost in the shuffle. Even the film’s narrative simplicity becomes lost as it attempts to deliver a bunch of twists and turns in its finale that it just doesn’t need. Its attempts to constantly pull the rug out from under you just overcomplicates things and muddies up a perfectly serviceable action premise.
Speaking of action, the film delivers unremarkable sequences that ride the wave of John Wick’s influence on the genre. There are some nice moments and Mackie certainly gets to do more fun things here as a leading star than he does in the MCU, but it’s really nothing special. Even having Mackie play a cyborg doesn’t add anything fresh to the action, as his cybernetic enhancements only allow him to deliver the usual goods: super-punches and fast movement. Honestly, the Gumps, which give off awesome stylistic shades of District 9, are more intriguing action-wise than Leo and do more unique things. The film’s effects are also a bit of a mixed bag. The look for Leo’s cyber body looks cool and the Gumps have a nice design. However, when the Gumps are meant to move with speed, they can look a little choppy and some of the explosion effects and tech-driven scans just don’t look that great.
Outside the Wire delivers enough of the goods to be a decent sci-fi action trek, but misses out on being something bigger with its overstuffed story and themes as well as bland action and effects. It’s far from being the worst action blockbuster that Netflix has delivered, but even further from being the best.
