Review: Warfare

Directed by: Ray Mendoza & Alex Garland

Written by: Ray Mendoza & Alex Garland

Starring: D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Will Poulter, Cosmo Jarvis, Kit Connor. Finn Bennett, Joseph Quinn

Rating: [3.5/5]

There has never been a shortage of films highlighting the experience of American soldiers through various skirmishes in the Middle East. Even with singular stories, they tend to blend together but at times you get something so much its own beast that it takes you aback. This happens to be the case with Warfare in the way it displays the horrors of a particular outing with minimal story but made up with incredible immersion. 

In the dead of night, Navy SEAL platoon Alpha One led by Erik (Will Poulter) takes control of a home to do some local surveillance. As they try to lie low, they begin to see movement amongst the individuals they are surveiling, and as tensions rise they notice that they will soon need to defend themselves against an ambush. 

It has now become this joke that Americans like to make films about the detrimental physical and mental impacts on soldiers during our involvement in the Middle East while glorifying blowing up the natives. It sets the scene for individuals outside the United States to see these stories as hollow but then allows ones like Warfare to hit differently. The film does not focus on character or delving into the politics of what’s transpiring but rather a truthful and viscerally engaging viewing experience that puts us right at the center of all the action. 

Normally I’m someone who values depth and often lambasts films that fail in delivering on these fronts, but this feature knows exactly what it wants to do and I respect the ambition it lays out. As we follow this unit, we get to witness the cohesiveness of their operation in the way they each have their specific role and do it well. These moments have this procedural nature to them, which may not engage everyone but shows just how much their training serves in breeding success with this unit. Therefore, when things go array and the attack begins, they manage to maintain their cohesion amidst all the madness. 

Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza manage to create this claustrophobic feeling within this multi-story home, where we stay within the perspective of these characters for the duration of the film. Most of our exposure to what happens around them from the start mostly comes from the sniper scope of Elliot (Cosmo Jarvis) as he scans a local area with plenty of movement that raises some concerns. Therefore, as tension begins to rise, we have no real scope of the danger headed their way and we navigate this natural fear that arises that displays the true nature of these soldiers. It’s easy to be brave when not facing the reality of death but this incoming attack does plenty to shine a light on how they react to adversity. 

Once the firefight begins where these soldiers try to survive until their support reaches them, we get to experience the ultimate highlight of this film: the sound work. Excellent sound work in war films should be a given but what gets captured in Warfare takes it to another level. Not just from gunfire but also the moments where more powerful artillery comes into play. It will certainly make you jump from your seat and it helps immensely with the immersion this film wants to evoke through this story. By far the defining element of this film from beginning to end. 

In no way serving as a recruitment video to get fresh blood into the military, Warfare has a singular objective of exhibiting the sounds, the fear, and the pain involved in one experience for these soldiers. Much of the marketing of this feature states how it comes from the memory of co-director Ray Mendoza, who gets portrayed by D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai in the film. It makes one question how one could possibly recover from going through a situation such as what this film presents. This amongst other elements culminates into this film serving as something that will surprise people when they walk into it, especially with the common expectation of what a war film could look like and what it seeks to communicate. Combine this with a cast consisting of pretty much every young and upcoming male actor in Hollywood right now and you have yourself quite the motion picture.