Warfare Review: War Movies Rarely Feel This Real

One of my go-to gripes about movies these days is that titles tend to really suck. There is a tendency for them to be far too generic and simple, and in their generic simple-ness, they often fail to properly represent the story and/or are totally forgettable (I have a whole special rant about features that go the “common first name” route that I can save for another time). In a vacuum, Warfare from writer/directors Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland would be a film that I would normally complain about in this context, but in this particular case, the generic and simple title is actually perfect: as its name suggests, it’s a cinematic experience of warfare, and it is breathtaking.

A high-concept thriller based on a true story, the movie serves to take you back to the year 2006 and embed you with a group of soldiers operating during the Iraq War, and it’s an utterly transfixing 94 minutes that flies by as it nails you to your seat in suspense, terrified of what may happen next. It makes no apologies for reality, and it doesn’t go through the process of making everything specifically cinematic with dumbed-down jargon, sweeping narrative developments or constructed character arcs. It exists to be a recreation of actual events from the memories of co-director/co-writer Ray Mendoza, and in its impeccable verisimilitude and constant intensity, it’s an awesome piece of work.