War Machine, Netflix’s latest action thriller, hilariously reads like the most explosive military recruitment ad you’ve ever seen. Fortunately, it’s entertaining enough that you probably won’t mind.
In this military endurance showcase-slash-alien survival thriller, a group of U.S. Army Ranger recruits are pushed to their absolute limits, hoping to cross the finish line and earn the coveted Army Ranger scroll. But when their final exercise takes them face-to-face against an alien killing machine, their graduation turns into the fight of their lives!
If I didn’t read the synopsis, I could swear I was watching a military documentary with the way War Machine treats the Army Rangers with almost mythic reverence. To be fair, Ranger training is one of the most grueling and punishing ones out there, but the 30th time the camera lovingly captures these avatars of human endurance pushing past their limits, you’d think you’re watching a recruitment commercial.
It’s super effective, though. Calm under pressure, quick on their feet, and able to take amounts of punishment a geek like me couldn’t possibly conceive, War Machine sets the baseline of how badass a Ranger is. Which pays dividends the moment the towering alien war machine appears, making the movie’s message unintentionally funny—"look how cool Rangers are, even against killer alien robots!"
At the center of War Machine is Alan Ritchson’s “81” (because names have no use in Ranger training). Carved out of pure stoicism, Ritchson understands the assignment and delivers an intense and physical performance with so few words. It also helps that Ritchson is built like a fucking superhero, a physically imposing presence that commands attention whenever he’s in frame.
The script doesn’t give him a lot of emotional nuance—81 is basically a walking, talking trauma machine—but Ritchson makes it work through sheer presence that doesn’t rely on witty dialogue or elaborate character arcs. Honestly, Ritchson’s 81 feels like the sort of 80’s action movie hero that would have defined your childhood.
I guess it’s why War Machine often feels so trope-y; it's cut from the same cloth as a bunch of better action movies. You can practically predict story beats the moment they appear, as my wife and I did while watching it. Fortunately, director Patrick Hughes gives the movie a steady and arresting pace that the predictable doesn’t turn into boring. It also helps that the action is fun and visceral, and the killer alien is such a menace that you can’t help but root for its downfall.
War Machine may not reinvent military action cinema, but it’s a loud, exciting—and oftentimes inspiring—old-school action survival movie that’s competent enough to make its clichés easy to accept.
War Machine is now streaming on Netflix.
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