“Warfare”
(USA/UK)
Metacritic (1/10), Letterboxd (0.5/5), Imdb.com (1/10), TMDB.com (1/10); Imdb.com critics review
They say “War is hell,” and, without a doubt, there’s plenty of evidence to back up that contention. But rarely, if ever, does anyone say that “War is boring,” although that can certainly be said about its depiction in this latest offering from writer-directors Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza. This fact-based account tells the story of a Navy SEAL unit charged with providing support for a US Marine operation in Ramadi during the Iraq War in 2006. Filmed in real time, the picture seeks to take viewers onto the front lines of this urban warfare setting, one that results in an ambush by insurgents armed with grenades, guns and IEDs, leading to fatalities and multiple life-threatening injuries. The attack, in turn, necessitates calls for evacuation that place the rescuers in extreme peril as street fighting intensifies around them, portraying this hazardous battlefield scenario in an authentically choreographed re-creation of on-the-ground events. But, in depicting the conflict, the filmmakers ponderously commit the grave error of making it mind-numbingly dull; it’s so “clinical” and by the book that it’s devoid of any sense of viewer engagement, with no character development, no emotional involvement and virtually no background about why any of this is transpiring in the first place. In fact, the narrative so anonymizes the circumstances surrounding this incident that the film ends up coming across like little more than a big screen version of a video game. Frankly, that raises the question, what’s the point of this, and why should the audience care? To compound matters, the picture’s protracted opening sequence, which chronicles the preparation and intelligence-gathering setup for the main event, goes on forever, leaving viewers wondering if anything is ever going to happen. And, when it at last does (and quite predictably at that, a quality that characterizes the film overall), the story becomes little more than an endless stream of gunshots, explosions and grotesquely wounded soldiers screaming in agony. Is this supposed to be “entertainment”? Indeed, by that point, “Warfare” becomes more of an endurance test than an estimable work of cinema. It thus makes one wonder about the purpose behind this production. If the intent is the misguided glorification of combat, it doesn’t do much to favorably make its case. And, if it’s meant to declare an anti-war statement, it seems strangely proud and self-congratulatory of its achievements in capturing the authentic look and feel of conflict, qualities that would appear to undercut such a core message. Even setting aside these philosophical issues, the film’s lack of focus beyond the battlefield footage causes it to fail even as a war picture in purely conventional terms when compared to countless other predecessors, including any number of World War II and Vietnam Era offerings, as well as more contemporary releases like “Black Hawk Down” (2001), “The Hurt Locker” (2008), “Good Kill” (2014) and “Eye in the Sky” (2015). When all of these considerations are taken collectively, this release has little going for it on so many fronts that it’s difficult to fathom the rationale for its existence – or a reason why anyone would realistically want to see it.