The makers of War Machine didn’t realize the U.S. would be at war in Iran the week the movie was released to American audiences on Netflix. Safe to say, though, that the circumstances of what happens in this military thriller are different from what’s currently happening in the Middle East.
The film, which mixes military action with sci-fi elements, is mostly a riff on the original Predator film from 1987, the one where Arnold Schwarzenegger led a team of mercenaries on a mission in the jungle, and they ended up squaring off with an alien entity. War Machine has Reacher star Alan Ritchson in the Arnold part, as an action hero who’s an impossibly huge individual. The film gets the action right, featuring impressive set pieces, huge explosions and a cool-looking adversary.
War Machine’s biggest weakness is that it doesn’t give Ritchson much of a chance to show off his personality, unlike Reacher. The premise is that Ritchson’s character is a military veteran and decorated hero of the Afghanistan war, a man haunted by his failure to save several of his men, including his brother, from a terrorist attack. After some time has passed, Ritchson’s engaged in the grueling Army Ranger training school. The training culminates in a final, elaborate simulated mission, at which point they confront a surprising foe that makes the film’s title literal. Since it’s technically a simulated mission, we’re meant to question whether or not it’s all part of the training.
Also, the way the plot leaves things at the end, this is a movie that feels like a prequel to a better movie. Dennis Quaid plays his commanding officer, with Stephan James and Jai Courtney among those portraying fellow soldiers; character development isn’t the film’s strong suit, in part because all the characters have numbers as their character names.
War Machine comes from Australian director Patrick Hughes, who directed the underrated The Hitman’s Bodyguard and its less impressive sequel, as well as one of the Expendables sequels. He knows his way around special effects-laden action. This is the second Netflix original movie called War Machine; the other came out in 2017, starred Brad Pitt, and was based on the late journalist Michael Hastings’ writing about the career fall of Army General Stanley McChrystal. War Machine isn’t bad, but I think there will be future action movies that make better use of Alan Ritchson’s talents.