REVIEW: 'Warfare' Is One Of The Best War Movies Of The 21st Century

A platoon of Navy SEALs embark on a dangerous mission in Ramadi, Iraq, with the chaos and brotherhood of war retold through their memories of the event.

When this trailer initially dropped, I was a little bit hesitant. A bunch of teenybopper bait, mostly English actors thrown together to play Navy SEALs? Just not something that seems like it can work. However, I am happy to report that I was dead wrong. 

'Warfare' is essentially 'Black Hawk Down' but less of a movie and more of a documentary. Thats to say it centers around a group of soldiers surrounded by enemies and trying to escape but there is no music, no fanfare, no backstories, side stories etc. It's just 90 minutes of raw combat that feels almost like a horror movie by the back half of it. 

To give a little background, this movie is co-directed and co-written by Ray Mendoza, 16-year veteran of the SEALs who met his co-director Alex Garland while working as the military advisor on 'Civil War'. This movie is based around a real firefight he was a part of in Ramadi, Iraq in 2006. A sticking point for him was making sure the movie felt authentic. In an interview with The Guardian, he was asked how he feels about war films. He said: 

I feel not seen. It’s actually embarrassing to watch them – they don’t get our culture right, we don’t speak that way. 

I can't claim to know if it is authentic at all but I can say that they used terms and did things I'd never seen in a war movie before and I watch a LOT of them. What I ended up doing was talking to my brother, who has been in the Marines for the last 10 years, and running him through some of the stuff that went down in it. He verified most and was shocked how accurate some of it was. Again, not surprising considering a vet directed the movie and not a sheltered hollywood director, but that level of authenticity is refreshing. 

Like I said before, the movie itself is really raw. Just pure, scary combat on a real set with some good actors. The whole cast does great but the big standouts to me are Cosmo Jarvis, Joseph Quinn, Will Poulter and D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai. They aren't given a lot of room to develop characters, which is good for the movie, but they do great work with what they have. 

Overall, it's a great movie that is different that every war movie you've ever seen. I can't say its a fun time at the theater, it's an enthralling watch.