Warfare

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The newest chapter to the long and impressive filmography of writer/director Alex Garland takes shape via a 95 minute heart-stopping and tension-rising wartime drama, which focuses on a platoon of US Navy SEALs as they attempt to navigate their way out of insurgent territory in the depths of Iraq.

Throughout the past 15 years, Alex Garland as introduced himself as one of the most unique yet grounded filmmakers around. His original stories take shape in the most unlikely and dystopian-like settings, yet the conversations in which his films provoke are some of the most relevant to their time.

Via his recent collaborations with A24, producing features such as the likes of 'Civil War', 'Men' and 'Ex Machina', the filmmaker has earnt himself the right to tell just about any story he wishes to be told, on the big screen. And it's no doubt that 'Warfare' is a story, based on real-life events, that he felt needed to be shared.

Whilst watching this film, you're not alone if you find yourself constantly questioning where you have seen members of this all-male cast previously. And rightly so. The ensemble that Garland and A24 managed to assemble for this film certainly isn't a few short of some A-list names from within the industry.

Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things), Will Poulter (We're The Millers), Cosmo Jarvis (Shōgun) and Kit Connor (Heartstopper) unite to form the English portion of this ensemble cast, tasked with portraying loyal members of the brotherhood within this US Navy troop.

Whereas some not-so-familiar faces such as Charles Melton, Michael Gandolfini, Taylor John Smith, D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai and a smothering of other make up the rest of the call sheet, and do an excellent job at contributing to the task at hand.

It must be credited that the roles that are brought to life on screen by this excellent ensemble cast do most of the heavy lifting on this film. A story that possesses as much dialogue as this one relies heavily on the talent of the cast members at hand.

One of the most memorable events in this feature is undoubtedly the opening sequence, in which us audience members are exposed to a handful of 20+ men excitedly dancing and signing along to the music video of Eric Prydz' 'Call On Me'. The rush of adrenaline and excitement that lingers throughout the group quickly latches onto the audience, immediately setting a tone for the film we didn't expect to receive.

And then, we can't move for the next 90 minutes.

The tone in the story instantly does a 180 degree turn on itself, as we are dropped in the middle of a warzone as the troop of SEALs attempt to raid the home of an Iraqi family and claim it as their own territory for the foreseeable future.

For the next hour and a half, if it was always Alex Garlands intentions to give us audience members what feels like a constant heart attack, then he certainly succeeded in doing so.

From bloodshed to explosions to missing limbs to grown men crying out in pain, the audience has no choice but to ride out the massacre that they see before them and hope that this group of Navy SEALs, whom we have no choice but to root for, make it out alive.

PrimeTime Films Score: C+