Warfare Review

Based on an actual incident from the Iraq War, Warfare is an especially effective and visceral depiction of modern combat. Only those who were there can say whether it’s a 100% realistic recreation of those events: Co-directors Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza have been careful to note that the grueling images they’ve put onscreen are the “memories” of Mendoza and his fellow U.S. Navy SEALs, who were trapped in a Ramadi apartment during a surveillance mission gone awry in 2006. Memories, of course, can be skewed or have their own gaps or inaccuracies. But there’s no arguing that the recollections dramatized by Warfare are undeniably engrossing – no matter how difficult and upsetting they are to watch. And they are difficult and upsetting to watch: Warfare is arguably among the most extreme “war is hell” movies ever made by an American studio.

After spending the past decade working as an advisor on projects including Jurassic World, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and Garland’s 2024 film Civil War, Mendoza brings an uncommon level of personal experience to Warfare. Garland’s filmmaking prowess is crucial here as well: Part of what makes Warfare so effective is how it plays (and sounds) like the kind of blunt, dread-filled horror movie the 28 Days Later screenwriter and Annihilation director made his name on.

After a quiet set up, all hell eventually breaks loose for Ray (played onscreen by Reservation Dogs’ D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai) and his platoonmates. And when it does, things get truly horrifying. Warfare shows that no matter how well trained and skilled you are, there’s no controlling the chaos of an armed ambush or your reaction to a nearby explosion. The moment when things truly turn sideways for the group is absolutely brutal, filled with disturbing imagery of the dead and terribly injured and the shock on the faces of those who survive.

If this doesn’t exactly sound like the type of fun or excitement we might typically seek from a night at the multiplex – well, it’s not. Warfare is the type of technically impressive – and well worth seeing – movie that’s challenging by design. The idea is to put you in these men’s shoes as best as a movie can. In this regard, Warfare has an impact that I found hard to shake.

Essentially told in real time, and mostly set within a single building, the methodically-paced build-up shows the SEALs – played by familiar faces from various MCU projects, celebrated FX series, Netflix dramas and more – hunkered down in the apartment they’ve commandeered from an Iraqi family. Scenes of them handwriting notes, urinating in water bottles, and stretching after long spells of crouching behind a sniper rifle accomplish Warfare’s goals of immersion. These lived in, mundane, and even tedious early moments play out in the ever-present shadow of lethal danger – and the fear that, any moment, a bullet (or bullets) could come flying into the apartment.

That nerve-rattling atmosphere is intensified by Warfare’s incredible sound design. Devoid of any musical score, the combat scenes go sonically wild and surreal: Sound designer Glenn Freemantle drops the volume low and the audio becomes distorted when the characters can barely hear, but there are also moments that are so loud, it’s almost too much to endure. And that’s clearly the point: Eventually, one of our main characters, having been injured in a particular ghastly manner, begins screaming at the top of their lungs in nonstop agony, and it’s nearly unbearable. But it’s also necessary to get across what these people are suffering through.

When it comes to depicting the Iraqi civilians caught in the middle of all this, there is some time spent with the two scouts accompanying the SEALs on their mission, who express their rational, validated fears about what could occur. Warfare doesn’t shy away from the stark reality of how awful and traumatizing things are for the family living in the apartment, either. These people have the terrible luck of living in a place taken over by American soldiers who show no outward hesitation when it comes to endangering innocent lives – children included. With those soldiers providing our main point of view, it’s frustrating that we don’t get to know the family in any detail, or truly explore their viewpoint. Still, it’s clear that Mendoza and Garland are aware that for the inhabitants of the apartment, the SEALs themselves are like something out of a horror movie, and they don’t attempt to sugarcoat it.

Casting here is crucial. These are simply defined characters without a trace of backstory or motivation, and Warfare asks us to invest in them quickly. Garland and Mendoza do a terrific job, stocking their cast with recognizable, up-and-coming, acclaimed actors like Will Poulter, Noah Centineo, Cosmo Jarvis, Kit Connor, Michael Gandolfini and Joseph Quinn. (Though there is some irony that many of these actors are, like Garland, Brits telling a deeply, unfortunately American story.) They’re able to convey the humanity and vulnerability within these guys – and let us understand, for instance, why someone who is usually clearly very capable suddenly freezes up in the face of such overwhelming odds. Charles Melton is also well cast as the leader of a second group of SEALs we meet later on, exuding the determination and gravitas this character needs to provide.

Warfare is the kind of film where you’re sitting holding your breath, tensed up, for much of the run time. (94 minutes, in case you’re wondering whether or not it’ll be too much to endure.) Which means the rare moments of comic relief – including one darkly funny moment of accidental physical comedy in the midst of chaos – have all the more impact, thanks to the necessary release of tension. It’s easy to imagine this was the case for the characters’ real-life inspirations, too. Because if war is hell, you take a chuckle where you can get it.