Warfare Review: An Odd Beast of a Combat Procedural

Warfare’s first images are from the ’80s aerobics-throwback music video for Eric Prydz’s “Call On Me” from 2004, an obnoxious-albeit-undeniable dancehall earworm that paired well with Madonna’s last great track, “Hung Up,” in terms of sound and iconography. The brief wave of Daft Punk-sounding Top 40 is probably a metric of many a millennial for “The Bush Era,” which was eight years perhaps largely defined by images of American imperialistic hubris taking place alongside the gaudiest pop culture imaginable. Possibly the natural culmination of this was Green Day’s extended “Wake Me Up When September Ends” video that functioned as a mini-movie about little midwesterner Jamie Bell signing up for Iraq.

The impulse of that video (some British twink thrown into Fallujah and garbling an American accent) is certainly the image in which Warfare heavily treads. A title card informs us that it’s based on “memories,” but this joint collaboration from Iraq War veteran/sometimes movie-military consultant Ray Mendoza and elevated genre guru Alex Garland is an odd beast. Using the “memory” framework, the film doesn’t build up to the feeling of a hazy daydream but rather an overly conceptual (if not particularly exciting) procedural––no matter how much the occasional imagery of a poorly rendered CGI fighter jet adds a whiff of surrealism to break up supposed realism. 

Led by a cast of “oh yeah, that guy” dudes primarily in their late 20s and early 30s (standouts being notably talented actors Joseph Quinn and Charles Melton), Warfare boils down to a platoon occupying a building, being surrounded by enemies, and subsequently trying to exit. The film’s rhythms revolve around soldiers waiting, a tossed grenade, fallout from the grenade, drone POV footage, firefights, planning, and even more waiting. Despite a plethora of gunfire, screams of pain, and graphic combat wounds, there’s something deeply dry in how Garland and Mendoza strip combat of any rush. It admittedly makes for a long 98 minutes, and one can imagine Warfare deeply alienating both the red-state audience A24 hopes to reach for the first time and the young, urban hypebeast crowd who show up to every new release wearing merch. 

The closest point of comparison is Black Hawk Down, which felt like a big deal at the time for dedicating so much of its runtime to battle, yet Warfare makes one realize how bloated the former was in comparison. While Ridley Scott’s war film was an hour longer (to still have time at the beginning for Josh Hartnett’s watery eyes to make you know the soldiers are good guys), Warfare very deliberately robs viewers of any identification amidst the day in the life of men doing work. 

It may be bad timing for this film to come out now, and a final shot (before a venture into Taste of Cherry-esque fourth wall-breaking) acknowledging the other side is rather clumsy as admission of a depoliticized stance. But something of the anti-nostalgia experiment at least keeps interest throughout. It’s perhaps a sign of what can happen when a competent-if-intellectually shallow craftsman like Garland teams up with a non-dramatist. The result: accidental art. 

Warfare opens on Friday, April 11.

The post Warfare Review: An Odd Beast of a Combat Procedural first appeared on The Film Stage.