Warfare prioritizes a real-time sensory experience for maximum impact
Prepare for war. Warfare is a ninety-five minute adrenaline shot of real-time warfighting that asks the audience to experience an authentic depiction of grim combat and decide how to feel about it. Some viewers will chastise the filmmakers for not taking an explicit stance, the same complaint levied against 2024’s Civil War, yet that would be missing the point. Warfare isn’t interested in historical or political context, and unfolds almost entirely without a hint of moral grandstanding. Instead, Warfare is solely focused on the visceral hell unleashed when the bullets begin to fly. In a troubling hint at war’s futility, Warfare’s very existence seems to suggest that any shred of morality can only work backwards from the end, after it’s too late and the battle is over.
Warfare is based on co-director Ray Mendoza’s experience as a U.S. Navy SEAL on a botched mission during the Iraq War in 2006. Mendoza was a military advisor on Civil War, which was helmed by Warfare’s other co-director, Alex Garland. Taking a defensive position in a residential house within a combat zone in Ramadi, Iraq, the platoon of SEALs wait for extraction when they are attacked by surrounding insurgents. The talented cast of young men portraying platoon members include D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai (Reservation Dogs) as Mendoza, Will Poulter (Death of a Unicorn), Cosmo Jarvis (Shogun), Joseph Quinn (A Quiet Place: Day One), Kit Connor (His Dark Materials), Michael Gandolfini (Beau is Afraid), Noah Centineo (Dream Scenario), and Charles Melton (May December).
Warfare promotes the notion that combat is, at its core, tactical and precise, relying on every minute element to work as intended to avoid tragedy. And yet, Warfare also shows the unnerving way in which our most basic survival instincts rise to the surface in both helpful and hopeless ways. There’s not a lot of dialogue in the film, and when there is, it’s almost entirely military jargon. The filmmakers went to great lengths to avoid any dramatic embellishments, keeping the action mechanics, environmental details, and character interactions as close to Mendoza’s recollections as possible. The authenticity doesn’t silo the audience from the story. Rather, the attention to detail enhances our immersion into the action. When a rescue unit is two minutes out, we spend the full two minutes with the trapped SEALs, sharing in the anxious silence and steadfast preparedness the characters are experiencing. Warfare is meant to be exhausting, with incredibly loud sound effects and unrelenting tension used to further involve us in the chaos. Warfare’s technical team has delivered Oscar-worthy work.
Anyone who leaves Warfare with the belief that war is good, or cool, or is inspired to enlist, has a serious screw loose. And yet, Warfare isn’t inherently anti-war. The film is meant to be “factual” (or as factual as an expensive reenactment can be). It’ll be easy to leave Warfare wondering why the U.S. military was in Iraq in the first place, or how humans can create such abominable weapons to attack each other. We may take a moment to weigh the costs of any war. What’s wise about Warfare is that the film and filmmakers don’t make any decisions for you. Your thought process may be influenced by the film’s viscerality, it’s in-your-face filmmaking, and because the film serves as a dedication to all those involved in the conflict. Sometimes a little subtle manipulation is a good thing, especially when the instigating context is that war(fare) is hell.
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Warfare opens in theaters on Friday, April 11th.
