In Warfare, we follow a team of Navy SEALs in Iraq circa 2006. The SEALs themselves in a Black Hawk Down-esque scenario when they come under siege from all sides during a routine support mission. Cornered in a two-story house, they will have to hold out until reinforcements arrive.
Warfare opens to our Navy SEALS partying to Eric Prydz’s Call on Me, an infectious boppy techno beat. It’s almost as if the film is telling audiences: “Party it up now while you can, because this is the last chance you will get". It’s an unexpected, welcome, and clever way to start the film. Indeed, things do get much more dire and serious a little later on.
Warfare is an ensemble film with a totally stacked cast including but not limited to Joseph Quinn, Will Poulter, Michael Gandolfini, Charles Melton, Kit Connor, Noah Centineo, and Henrique Zaga. As this is an ensemble piece, there isn’t really a main character and most of the cast get about equal amounts of screen time. D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai plays the central character of Ray, who spends the majority of the film in a worsening state of shock. D’Pharaoh leaves an impression.
Will Poulter plays Erik, essentially the head of the group. He calls the orders for most of the movie, and is typically the one others look to for leadership. Poulter continues to prove he’s one of the best young actors out there. In Warfare, he brings a humanity to his role. He makes it easy to understand the weight that comes with a leadership role, as he has to remain calm and in-control when chaos, gunfire, and bloodshed surround him. Poulter lets hints and glimmers of emotion, trauma, and panic rise to the surface of his usually stoic facade and indeed, Poulter’s character of Eric might not be able to hold back his shock and trauma forever.
Joseph Quinn also shines as Sam. It’s a tough role as it’s mostly intense emotion. Quinn makes his screen time completely riveting and harrowing. Even tougher still is the role of Elliott, as played by Cosmo Jarvis. Most of his screen-time occurs during the first act, but he’s pretty important as the entire film is dedicated to him (that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a goner though. Both Quinn and Jarvis have the makings of being great scream kings.
The first 30 or 40 minutes of Warfare is pretty slow and uneventful. Our SEALS are doing their support mission very well, but are noticing hints that there may be a serious offensive mounting. They begin to worry, as do we. Some might call this part boring, and it does feel like some could have been shaved off the top here. That said, the build-up is extremely effective and when ish hits the fan and our group find themselves trapped in a literal hell, you’d be hard pressed not to find yourself clenching your nether regions tighter.
The “action” is far from thrilling. It’s tense and traumatic. There is no glamour, no heroic moments, no glorification of war and violence. There is only hiding, shooting, and survival. The sound design by Glenn Freemantle and sound editing by Ben Barker is superb. You feel every gun shot pop, every wrinkle of clothing upping the tension and anxiety of each scene. Warfare is also noticeably lacking a score, which only ups the aforementioned tension and anxiety.
Warfare is directed and written by Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza. The proceedings are based on an actual mission Mendoza participated in back in ‘06 (the character of Ray is based on him). Warfare makes the bold claim at the start that what we are about to witness is based on the memories of Ray Mendoza and his surviving fellow SEALS. Warfare does appear to be quite accurate to what war is really like. The film ends with photos of the real SEALS who were part of the mission (some of their faces are blurred), as well as some BTS footage. It all helps to cement the fact that this isn’t just a movie, all this really happened.
Warfare throws audiences into a terrifying and impossible situation with some of the toughest, baddest, most expert people around. Watching the SEALS fall apart both literally and metaphorically drives the point home that, at the end of the day, they are just kids much like you and me. War sucks, but Warfare does not. Taut, tense, anxiety-inducing, and relentless, Warfare is easily the best war film to come out of the 2020s thus far.
5 STARS