Writer/director Alex Garland, after delivering a striking vision of America’s boiling tensions with Civil War last year, teams up with former US Navy SEAL Ray Mendoza to bring a fresh vision of modern warfare to the big screen. In Warfare, they do just that and more, yet still struggle to make a lasting impact.
The film, based on Mendoza’s experience serving in the Iraq War, follows Ray (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai) and his squadmates trying to survive a mission in insurgent territory. Admittedly, Warfare gets off to a slow start as you essentially watch these soldiers hold their position and survey growing activity. While that might seem uninteresting, it actually builds effective tension that grows with time. Every check-in with sniper Elliot (Cosmo Jarvis) creates this mounting pressure as enemy groups form. The messages sent by Ray over the comms perfectly emphasize how the situation slowly escalates. Plus, you never shake this feeling like something bad is lurking around the corner. Even with some personable interactions lightening the mood once in a while, there’s this quiet intensity surging through everyone.
This opening stretch is also where Mendoza’s methodical approach to Warfare really pays off. With this film, there’s a clear goal to capture day-to-day warfare in its most grounded form, and there’s a detail-oriented nature to Mendoza’s direction that’s purely unmatched. Whether it’s the language used over the radio or the movement choreography for the entire group, there’s a sense of purpose intertwined into every decision. It makes even the most casual scenes vastly more compelling, and the use of real-time coordination is superb.
Often, characters will call out how far out support is or how long they have to move, and the film captures it in real-time. So, if they say their rescue support is three minutes out, you’re waiting every grueling second alongside them and it’s some of the best slow-burn thrills you’ll feel. It’s a key part of Warfare being one of the most immersive war films in recent memory, and you feel the daunting pressure these soldiers face even before things get deadly.
Eventually, that foreboding, explosive turn comes and everything that follows is remarkably captivating – largely because Garland’s strengths as a visionary elevate the experience to new heights. Honestly, the sound design for Warfare is on another level as it utilizes perspective-based hearing incredibly well. These shifts from muffled noise as people recover from a nearby explosion to the piercing screams of a wounded squadmate create these powerful emotional turns that cut deep. The film always crashes viewers right back to reality, at times in devastating ways, and it’s why the intensity of the experience rarely dissipates. Not to mention, Garland’s ambitions expands the scale to harrowing heights. Whether it’s these eye-widening “show of force” scenes, expansive firefights that take place across an entire town, or the gruesome depiction of brutality, Warfare sees Mendoza and Garland’s atmosphere run wild with big thrills.
It’s also full of great performances from a cast made up of notable rising talent. Will Poulter continues his hot streak of standout performances with his work as group leader Erik. He has the perfect screen presence as someone with authority, and he embodies the dramatic shift the group faces when things go wrong. Woon-A-Tai is very effective in making viewers hang off of everything Ray says, and he brings a dire focus that binds the group in chaotic moments. He’s especially great at showcasing Mendoza’s undying care and commitment to his fellow soldiers in the final stretch, and it adds an irresistible heart to the film’s harshest moments. As a whole, the entire cast is pretty stellar from start to finish. They all capture the camaraderie of this group in a realistic fashion and evoke the gutting effect warfare has on people in the heat of the moment. The arc we see this group go through is a swift punch to the gut and it’s where the film’s goal to reframe modern warfare leaves a distinctive mark.
In general though, as a film, Warfare doesn’t leave a lasting impact. Despite the distinct vision seen throughout, there isn’t much weight or connectivity to the story or these characters. For the most part, we barely learn the names of these characters and there isn’t much time spent on developing personal dynamics between them. It’s sort of just a snapshot of Mendoza’s experience, and there isn’t enough depth with the narrative at hand to really stick with viewers once the credits roll. Plus, the film does start to break its realism a bit when a secondary group enters the fray and comes with personalities and situations that feel like generic, dramatized war scenes. So, in short, it’s hard to say that Warfare is as game-changing as it wants to be because it doesn’t have the strengths other war films bring – characters and story.
Warfare is a testament to the combined power of Garland and Mendoza’s vision, and it culminates in a must-watch at the movie theaters. The technical prowess and immersive atmosphere they bring to depicting modern warfare is something worth the price of admission alone, even if it comes with some narrative shortcomings. It delivers the type of sweat-inducing thrills audiences desperately crave, and Warfare is another big win for Garland’s growing legacy as a top-tier director.
