WARFARE – Review

WARFARE is an intense, immersive experience of war that recalls the opening sequence of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN but in this case, it is most of the film. Told in real-time, it recreates the experiences of a group of U.S. Navy SEALS during an Iraq War operation that goes terribly wrong. The realism is electrifying and unblinking, with a script drawn entirely from the memories of the people who were there. Co-written and co-directed by one of the Iraq War veterans who was a part of that operation, Ray Mendoza, and Alex Garland, director of CIVIL WAR and 28 DAYS LATER. The film stars a line up of rising young stars, including Will Poulter, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Cosmo Jarvis, Kit Connor, Taylor John Smith, and Michael Gandolfini.

WARFARE aims to present a realistic, close-up view of war, so the drama does not flinch from the unpleasant or emotionally tough, as war films often do, cutting away at difficult moments or inserting music to ease the blow. WARFARE instead honestly shows real events, the complexity of the situation, the moral gray areas in their action or mistakes made, while also focusing on the bonds between the SEALS in this difficult situation and their commitment to their mission. Another film that springs to mind is BLACKHAWK DOWN, where what seems a simple mission becomes anything but that.

WARFARE recreates the remembered event of an operation that took place in November 2006 in Ramadi, Iraq. A platoon of U.S. Navy SEALS was divided into 3 squads, as part of an operation to to surveil suspected Al Qaeda insurgents. We follow one group who are in charge of providing support for the operation, in the form of a sniper and surveillance from the second floor of a house across the street from the building where the insurgents are meeting. It seems a straight-forward, and even a lower-risk, assignment but uncertainty, the unexpected and the unknown are the heart of war.

Will Poulter plays the officer in charge of this group, which includes two Iraqi Army members, while Ray Mendoza (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai) is in charge of communications. On the second floor are medic and sniper Elliot Miller (Cosmo Jarvis) and petty officer Hildebrand (Joseph Quinn) helps keep things on task.

That commitment to honesty in portraying war means WARFARE puts us in the middle of a wartime operation gone wrong, with a script based entirely on the memories and experiences of those who were there and lived the experience. Since the script is built from various people’s memories, the point of view is shifting, as everyone has their own perspective. Co-director Alex Garland knows how to build tension and how tell a nuanced story with complicated characters and situations, a skill he demonstrated amply in CIVIL WAR and 28 DAYS LATER, and WARFARE is gripping throughout its 95 minute running time.

But before we go into the war zone, WARFARE introduces us to this squad of young soldiers, with a scene that lets us grasp how very young they are, many of them still teenagers and perhaps even far from home for the first time. These very young men are relaxing before the go on their mission, but options for relaxation are limited in this Muslim country at war. We see the young soldiers crammed into a tent, crowded around a TV monitor playing an exercise/dance video of women in tight ’80s workout gear. It is clear this video is a familiar one, a favorite even, as the young men exuberantly sing, dance and clown around along with the familiar video, anticipating favorite parts. It is an expression of typical teen silliness, of youthful male spirit and a rare release of the tensions, and while the short sequence also depicts their bonds as a team, it also gives us insight when we see these very young these men in the harrowing scenes to come.

The opening sequence gives way to another view of some of those young men, a platoon of Navy SEALS, who are sent out on a mission. They are to provide backup, and support in the form of snipers to another group who will be engaging with a group of suspected insurgents. The group’s first task is to move into the house they are to occupy, which means storming into the home of an Iraqi family, who are naturally terrified and confused by the invasion. Herding the frightened family into a ground-level room, the SEALS then breaks down a wall to a neighboring unoccupied apartment, to access the building’s second story, where they will set up their surveillance and sniper. The men joke around, and we start to get a sense of their personalities, but we know that something bad is on the horizon.

WARFARE creates an authentic view of combatants’ experiences, flaws and all. While much of the focus in on the soldiers, all the characters are portrayed as real people, and the film also honestly portrays the terror of the family, and fears of the Iraqis embedded with them. As things go wrong and become unpredictable, some people break, some make poor decisions and there is some just plain bad luck leaves then pin down with injuries, as calls for assistance go out. The snipers come under attack, grenades are tossed in, and an attempt to evacuate the wounded goes horribly wrong.

No spoilers here, but it is an intense experience, and at times, graphic one with severed limbs and more. The humanity of everyone involved in this tragic event is always fully developed, a rare thing in a war film. The actors’ strong performances are one of the highlights of this drama, with these gifted young actors crafting complex characters based on real people, who have the flaws of any human, and who make choices, good or bad, based on what limited information they have and, sometimes, on raw emotion. We can’t help but be drawn in, and be moved, by the experiences of these people caught in this horrifying situation.

At the film’s end, we get some side-by-side shots of the actors and the real people they portrayed. Unsettlingly, some of the faces of the real people are blurred out, including the Iraqi family whose apartment was commandeered, reflecting the mixed feelings around the wartime events.

This heartbreaking film can be difficult to watch but it is worth that effort for its honest portrait of the on-the-ground experience of warfare, something that people who have never experienced it directly need to understand in a world where war could occur again.

WARFARE opens in theaters on Friday, Apr. 11, 2025.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars