The brutal Warfare wages its tight filmmaking against combat's casual disregard for life (2025)

Not even a year after Civil War bemused many Americans, Alex Garland returns to the battlefield. But this time, instead of a Brit’s conception of America’s worst-case scenario, Garland now sets his sights on a conflict that actually transpired. Partnering with veteran Ray Mendoza as co-writer and director, the Annihilation and Ex Machina filmmaker creates a real-time glimpse into the memories of those who served in the Iraq War. On a first glance, Warfare might strike as inherently jingoistic—a collaboration between an ex-Navy SEAL and a non-American director, the latter possessing questionable views on American politics. Civil War was an ideologically incongruent concoction of a politically imploded, dystopian U.S., a near-farcical Black Mirror episode in which Texas and California have allied. Yet, aiming for an honest adherence to the experiences of the Iraq War veterans ends up as staunchly anti-war, regardless of creative intent.

It’s 2006, and Warfare opens with a pop song—the soundtrack to a salacious, retro workout video that the soldiers watch together, raucously crooning along. It’s a final hurrah before they slink off into the night to scope for the perfect watch post, leading them to uproot an Iraqi family from their home. In this family’s apartment, they set up base for a mission, as unclear in intent and scope as America’s reasons for being in Iraq in the first place. Led by Officer in Charge Erik (Will Poulter), the team—including snipers Elliot (Cosmo Jarvis) and Frank (Taylor John Smith), leading Petty Officer Sam (Joseph Quinn), gunner Tommy (Kit Connor), and LT McDonald (Michael Gandolfini)—carries out their vague mission as they spy on a terrorist faction in insurgent territory. There’s a tightness in the atmosphere, but still a lackadaisical attitude and banter between men who have yet to see bloodshed. As they track a group of suspicious individuals, it becomes increasingly clear that the men are preparing to be attacked. A megaphone voice announces in Arabic the explicit designs for a jihad against the American soldiers. The men batten down the hatches and prepare for combat.

Garland credits the film as having been led by Mendoza; Garland was more like a driving instructor in the passenger seat. But even without that knowledge, Warfare is impressive, efficiently tense filmmaking. Equal parts claustrophobic and frenetic, the camera largely maintains the perspectives of the men, either inside the concrete apartment building, on the roof, or directly outside for the bulk of the film. There are no attempts at gimmicky continuous takes, but the film still maintains an unbroken sense of real-time continuity. The hazy logistics and objective of the mission are less important than the physical act of going through these motions, the act of following as rowdy, sex-starved Navy SEALs devolve into bodies battered both physically and spiritually.

Its brisk 90 minutes feels neither padded for time nor cut too short, though the film lacks a traditional narrative. Warfare has no conventional story arc, no identifiable antagonist or protagonist unless one chooses to interrogate the film at its easiest, binary interpretation of The United States vs. Iraq. And while it could be read simplistically as sympathetic to the U.S., with little perspective given to the Iraqi people, this lack of perspective is also the point. The American soldiers are not rah-rah good ol’ boys fighting to protect American freedoms, but sacrificial lambs. The obfuscation of their mission and the casualties it causes makes their commitment pitiable. If there’s a villain in Warfare, it’s apathy.

Aside from its strengths as a tense, disturbing recreation of a real-life mission, Warfare doesn’t shy away from portraying the casual disregard of combat; not just between soldiers and civilians, but between the soldiers themselves. “Doesn’t shy away” isn’t quite right—such a depiction is simply inherent to Mendoza’s goal of reliving this particular day. This also makes the film baldly political by default. It’s not a coincidence that the soldiers instructed outside before the bombing, the ones who are instantly killed by the blast, are Iraqis. Mendoza’s memory is betrayed by the implicit politics of his own experience. But just as the soldiers show disregard for the terrified Iraqi family they displaced in the middle of the night, so too does an arriving support team show neglect towards their fellow men. A surprise bombing directly outside the apartment building leaves no soldier unharmed. The ones who avoided the blast are instantly traumatized, and the ones caught in the crossfire are left with cavernous wounds carved into their legs. When the B-team shows up (led by Jake, played by Charles Melton), the wounded men are treated like babbling children. Limbs pooling with blood are intentionally kicked around by those who are supposed to be comrades. The men who witnessed true carnage are not the same men as the ones who haven’t.

Despite its lack of conventional plotting, there are a handful of familiar war film attributes that feel inescapable, like the virile soldiers full of joie de vivre at the onset who become traumatized victims by the end. But there is no courageous denouement for these men, only embattled survivors scurrying into rescue vehicles—a bite-sized Come And See. Simply depicting the plain, ugly truth of human combat makes Warfare all the more effective as a piece of art setting out to evoke a time and place. The bombing set piece is equal parts horrific and thrilling; the filmmakers draw out the sensory reality of the slaughter as the men slowly come to, disoriented, ears ringing, ultimately leading to a frenzy of confusion, agita, and howling agony. The cacophony of torment and its reaction in the men meant to arrive with help is as grim as the bureaucratic resistance to send in medic vehicles to give the wounded any chance to survive their injuries.

When the men finally vacate the premises, the Iraqi family who lives there, who have cowered in fear through this entire ordeal, meekly rejoice at their absence. Their home has been destroyed, in service of foreigners who have fought for nothing other than their own ruination. There is a dedication in the credits to the real-life Elliot, who Mendoza made the film for; something to serve as a visualization, in place of memories that Elliot no longer possesses due to brain trauma. There is also a dedication of gratitude to the men who served, and their willingness to always “answer the call.” But what call, to what end, and from whom? The dedication can be read as obligatory patriotism, but after the film, it carries an underlying queasiness. In the events recalled for this film, Warfare offers a sobering glimpse into the pointless butchery of human life, and the indifference bred towards it, in the name of blind nationalism.

Director: Ray Mendoza, Alex Garland
Writer: Ray Mendoza, Alex Garland
Starring: D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Will Poulter, Cosmo Jarvis, Kit Connor, Finn Bennett, Taylor John Smith, Michael Gandolfini, Adain Bradley, Noah Centineo, Evan Holtzman, Henry Zaga, Joseph Quinn, Charles Melton
Release Date: April 11, 2025