April 20, 2025 · Watch the official trailer
The mental, emotional, and physical toll that U.S. servicemen and women undergo in service to country is something one can't fully comprehend unless they've lived through it themselves.
As much as cinema tries to capture what it means to be a soldier, the firsthand perspective of those who serve and sometimes give their lives for others isn’t something a film production can capture.
Perhaps the closest and most authentic to the experience of United States military servicemen is the new film written and codirected by former Navy SEAL Ray Mendoza with “Ex Machina” and “Civil War” director Alex Garland. Their new drama simply titled “Warfare” captures the intricate details of one of many missions carried out by a select unit of Navy Seals in Iraq in 2006.
This brisk 90-minute thriller drama follows a group of 10 soldiers manning a surveillance outpost they create in someone's home only to come under fire from unknown Iraqi attackers.
“Warfare” is a relatively straightforward occasionally brutal tale of military service that does not equivocate about the patriotism of its participants, nor does it delve deeply into the political machinations or ramifications that led to those servicemen being attacked.
Audiences are pulled tightly within the group, never straying long from their vantage point of or line of sight. Mendoza and Garland make the incredibly smart decision to maximize the authenticity and simplicity of the storytelling by keeping the camera on the soldiers at all times even in conversation with superior officers back at base. This forces the attention and focus of its audience squarely on the mission itself, which allows for viewers to feel the constant unease and dread of potential gunfire or explosions that could injure or even kill members of the squad.
Because the film focuses is so tightly on this one small unit and single mission, few of the soldiers get enough screen time to have overly complex backstories or character development arcs, which may seem to some as overly simplistic storytelling. But what this does is allow Mendoza and Garland to narrow the audience's gaze to the mission and reinforce the immediacy of each action and the technical level of skill that it takes to perform different functions within the unit.
The ensemble cast underwent nearly three weeks of intensive boot camp training led by Mendoza before filming began, contributing to the authenticity of “Warfare.” The precision required for these actors to perform in simulated combat, along with cinematographer David J. Thompson's ability to capture their actions and switch between character perspectives, makes the film one of the most realistic and gripping portrayals of military service in cinema history.
Despite the majority of the film occurring within a single house, Mendoza and Garland effectively convey a broader understanding of the surrounding environment and spatial layout. They proficiently depict the movement through various areas such as corners, hallways, and rooftops in alignment with the Seals as they explore each new location for potential threats.
“Warfare” is an exceptionally cerebral film that pushes the drama forward by tightening or widening its gaze on a particular member of the team in a moment-by-moment basis, often quickly jumping back-and-forth between different parts of the team at a rapid pace. This cinematic fluidity allows for “Warfare” to give scenes room to naturally build suspense and tension as viewers wait alongside the soldiers for gunfire that could arrive at any second.
The film also stands out as being the least Hollywood depiction of war in recent memory, opting not to have a musical score to amplify the tension and foreboding anticipation in scenes. “Warfare” often has a haunting silence to its audio work, keeping silent as the soldiers perform their tasks and elevating the chaos when the soldiers themselves may not have been able to hear what’s going on around them.
Viewers might find “Warfare” reminiscent of military films like “Black Hawk Down” or “13 Hours,” but the nuance and intimacy that Mendoza and Garland develop within “Warfare” make it far more compelling from a cinematic perspective and infinitely more revenant to the service of the men the film seeks to honor.
Without a doubt a film likely to be among the year’s most underrated and underseen, “Warfare” is an absolute must for cinephiles to make the extra time and effort to seek out on the biggest screen possible.
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