War Machine review – Netflix bravely asks: What if it was Predator but Transformers? | Action and adventure films

YYou’d be forgiven for skipping Netflix’s gory military thriller War Machine at this very moment. After all, there’s an actual war raging (is there ever a right time, one might argue?) but those behind the film are likely to use its science fiction as a defense of differentiation. The war raging here is not between the United States and a foreign terrestrial entity, but rather a war from somewhere above, our thousand soldiers against aliens. It’s an obvious “if you like” column filler for fans of Predator, Edge of Tomorrow, or Battle: Los Angeles, if they exist, but unlike many of the films it’s clearly inspired by, the aliens here are designed to resemble machines that could have originated from another country rather than another planet, a robotic hum over slithering tentacles.

It gives the film a slightly generic sheen, like a cheaper Transformers spin-off, but it’s also thankfully devoid of the dreaded Netflix mystique, that flat filter that reduces most colors to grey. The film is acquired from Lionsgate. The film, set in Colorado but shot in Australia by local writer-director Patrick Hughes, was given a theatrical release there last month, making it a smoother premiere than usual, and an easy Friday-night drinking option for those who want to remain completely unchallenged.

In another time, it might have been brought to the big screen and in another time, its muscular comedic hero Alan Ritchson, of Reacher fame, might have become one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. The actor, who has found an unusual path as a progressive male action hero (despite his tough on-screen persona, he has become an eloquently outspoken critic of all things Maga, much to the ire of the right) is a clear upgrade on Arnie, a 6-foot-3-incher with an over-pumped GI Joe body, and so the obvious star of a Predator heist (the pair share Christmas headliners). comedy later this year).

It’s ironic that as the Predator film series retreated into surprisingly diverse territory with heroes who were either female, people of color, or both, this remix takes things back to its more traditional red meat roots — white, bro, cheerleader — with even a thankfully small role for Trump-loving sycophant Dennis Quaid.

In a cold open story that’s almost predictable on the parody level, Ritchson’s hulking soldier, known as 81, is deployed to Afghanistan with his younger brother (Jai Courtney, back to basics after being brilliantly broken in the thriller Dangerous Animals), and as they quip and talk about their future training as military rangers together on the side of a dusty desert road, it’s not hard to guess that tragedy is about to strike. Fast forward to the present day, 81 has become a shell of the man he once was, but he is still determined to become a Ranger, and participates in a brutal selection tournament designed to weed out those who don’t have what it takes. But after sending his team (including well-known faces like Stephan James and Keenan Lonsdale) into the wilderness, he begins to realize that something more sinister than the US military is hunting them.

It’s also not hard to guess what’s to come, given the clumsy inclusion of news stories about an asteroid hitting and when the battle begins, it’s also not hard to guess how any of it will end. But surprise is never part of the equation (even if I did briefly hope that Hughes had a twist up his sleeve during some earlier scenes full of suspicious glances) and instead, most of the action is staged effectively enough with some decent over-the-top special effects that, for once, wouldn’t have looked out of place on a much larger screen (I’d recommend turning up the volume at home, too). Hughes keeps things smooth and precise even if some of his scenes start to feel a little reheated (a climb down a cliff once the alien arrives is followed by a climb across the water once the alien arrives). I would have liked a bit more character from the alien itself that relies a bit on the familiar ‘scan, target and destroy’ technique rather than anything more creative or nasty, and a high body count without any real impact. It all feels like a sequel or remake even though it’s an original.

Ritchson is stuck in thankless “haunted” mode, making for a performance that’s easy to praise for his physical work over anything more emotional, and his regressive journey from stoicism to becoming an “officially crazy person” never quite catches on. But like the movie it’s about, it does what it has to do, everything here is serviceable in the moment but never memorable enough for the next moment.