Watch War Machine on Netflix
Written by: Patrick Hughes & James Beaufort (screenplay by), Patrick Hughes (story by)
Directed by: Patrick Hughes
Starring: Alan Ritchson, Stephan James, Blake Richardson, Dennis Quaid, Esai Morales, Jai Courtney
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer
Plot
Army Ranger recruits encounter a mysterious, deadly robot during a training exercise.
Verdict
A military training operation turns into a fight for survival when an extraterrestrial robot lands in the area. The soldier to lead the opposition must overcome past trauma and find a way to unite the troops. The plot is frequently convenient. I don't know how the robot doesn't wipe them out immediately, instead playing a cat and mouse game to prolong the plot. The movie loads Ritchson's character with baggage just so he can get a triumphant moment towards the end. It's a big dumb action movie light on story, and if that's all you want this will deliver.
Skip it.
Review
Two military convoys meet in Afghanistan, with one of them having vehicle trouble. It turns out the man with car trouble is the younger brother of the Staff Sergeant (Alan Ritchson) that just rolled up. The older brother fixes the younger brother's vehicle before they're attacked.
Two years later and the Staff Sergeant/81 has recovered from his wounds and is trying to join the Army Ranger as a promise to his brother. It's on the nose, with the opening scene providing 81 with a goal and past trauma in one. 81 has applied before, being medically denied. We know it's due to injuries from the opening attack. How'd he get medical clearance this time?
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| Alan Ritchson plays 81 |
81 quickly establishes he's not a team player. He eats alone and runs ahead of the pack. Army Rangers want a team player, and 81 isn't it. While he's proven his physical strength, concerns linger about his mental state. It's just a way to create drama and a threat to bounce 81 out of the program, but he makes it to the final exercise. The movie has been teasing a strange asteroid approaching Earth the entire movie in the background on news feeds. During the training exercise 81's group encounters a high tech ship. They think it's part of the exercise, but they soon discover it's not. It's an alien or some kind of advanced technology that attacks them. It's convenient this thing landed right where they were training.
81 and only a few others survive. Being training, they have no weapons. 81 has refused to lead the entire time, but now he's pressed into service to keep this unit alive in the face of a giant killer robot. This robot is a merciless killing machine, and it makes no sense how this group lives so long. This robot annihilates the group, leaves a few alive and then departs. The only reason not to complete the job is to provide the movie with more plot. From there the robot takes a few shots and leaves, taking the group out a couple at a time. It's just to pad the run time. As precise and deadly as this robot can be, it's comical the movie goes on so long.
Aside from the robot, this is just a big dumb action movie. Appreciate it for that because this isn't about the logic or plot. 81 devises a way to stop the robot, a connection back to the opening sequence. 81 and 7 (Stephan James) are the only ones that make it back to base. The base hasn't mobilized due to multiple attacks and robots. They had to secure the base first so that 81 could fight the robot unhindered. 81 gets a nice moment where they ask him how he possibly defeated this robot with no weapons. He shares his intel as the military plans an assault. There are robots all over the world which leaves this open to sequels.
This seems to be following a checklist. It provides 81 a goal and trauma early for motivation. He checks all the boxes as the anti-social soldier that's the least likely to lead the team. Of course that means circumstances will force him to save the lives of his squad. It's all so predictable.
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