I guess Netflix ran out of titles…and irony. Or Ted Sarandos just forgot? 2017’s War Machine was going for acid tongued satire of the military industrial complex. I guess the US Army Rangers got pissed and sicked Alan Ritchson on the streamer; 2026’s version is the type of action whoo-rah! flick Brad Pitt would have been blown to pieces in. Or beaten to death by 81.
81 is Alan Ritchson’s number as a recruit for the Army Rangers. After an awful deployment leads to the death of his brother (Jai Courtney), 81 lives out both their dreams to try to make it in the 75th. 81’s got the physical gifts…but the Sergeant Major (Dennis Quaid) and First Sergeant (Esai Morales) are worried about the brooding loner recruit, and what keeps him pushing himself to his limits at all times. They test 81 by giving him 7’s (Stephan James) battalion for the final exercise: a test to destroy a classified aircraft and save the pilot. Except…the “classified” aircraft is maybe more classified than the unarmed recruits were expecting.
Director Patrick Hughes isn’t gonna win awards for his work here. However, he should get something for making this movie feel more than just a CGI ridden action fare that streamers like Netflix have fallen in love with. The biggest thing he brings to the movie is convincing Netflix for a while, not to use CGI. War Machine is shot in Australia and New Zealand, and uses the natural landscape magnificently. I really felt like I was with those rangers crossing mountains and rivers, being chased by essentially a Terminator Predator robot. Down Under’s beautiful mountains and rivers make for spectacular drone shooting, as we feel part of something really big and exciting as the story goes along. And if that’s just not working: how about a giant explosion, or gory bloodshed? There’s more than a few of those strewn across the scene, and they look great and pretty real, making War Machine just a tad more exciting than watching a CGI Helicopter explode in The Wrecking Crew.
As far as the story goes, we keep it simple. 5 minutes of backstory, and we get Alan Ritchson’s motivations, and 15 minutes in, we see why Stephan James is a proper sidekick for the big guy. Time for a training montage, which are always a great part of a military movie. Then we’re in the woods, playing a cat and mouse chase sequence with the robots. Hughes mixes up the obstacles nicely so we’re never bored. Down the mountain, across a river, through the forest with a body, to grandmother’s house we go. The brooding Ritchson basically channels Reacher into 81, going for stoic and chiseled. It works well: in a sea of Jason Statham actioners, watching someone near peak physical form makes War Machine push the limits further than you’ll be used to as to the feats of strength, and how believable they look.
Maybe that’s why Netflix gave this movie the title War Machine. It’s a great one, so why waste it in a one time satire. When there’s War Machines waiting right there for sequels and IP forever and ever. Unlike some other mediocre Netflix action pablum, I’d see another one of these, as long as they keep filming in Australia and New Zealand; boy it looks as amazing as it did onscreen 25 years ago.