Even though I do watch a good amount of movies and Tv series there are times when movies flyby and I dont pay attention to the director but there was something familiar from Warefare (2025), Alex Garland with back to back War theme movies from Civil War (2024) and now dropped another one of his signature "fuck your mind" experience movies with Warfare, and honestly I'm still trying to process where the hell this fits and if you overthink it wont make sense, this isn't your typical war movie where soldiers charge into battle with heroic music playing in the background instead we get something that feels more like watching actual combat footage than a Hollywood movie, you just get drop into the middle of the problem without much reason but all you care about is getting out of there alive or for some with half your body but "alive". The movie develops the story of a group of NAVY SEAL during a mission in Iraq back in 2006 but don't expect any of that Top Gun maverick nonsense because this thing strips away every single piece of movie magic and brings in a raw image of war.
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A movie co directed by Ray Mendoza who actually lived through this exact scenario as a real NAVY SEAL, this gives so much of that raw image I mention, the movie basically recreates his actual memories from the Battle of Ramadi, this explains why everything feels so uncomfortably real and raw. What makes this even more intense is that they didn't add any fancy cinematic tricks, no flashy editing to make things more exciting, everything seems like practical effects, just pure unfiltered warfare in all its chaotic glory. You get drop into a buildgin with soldiers watching some ridiculous music video and goofing around like regular guys, it makes you care about them before everything goes to absolute hell, reason why its because they having a good time in the middle of fkn War, you either have to be a badass like its another day at the office because you can die in any minute, sometimes we dont realize that while our daily routine is waking up and sit infront of a computer, for this soldiers their daily routine at war is wake up and dont get killed. This movie is immersive I mean you'll feel like you're sitting right there in that bombed out building with bullets flying past your head, the sound alone will make your ears ring with proper headphones. This isn't entertainment in the traditional audience it's more like being forced to witness something you were never supposed to see, that kinda of classified footage and that's exactly what makes it so powerful and disturbing at the same time.
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The thing about Warfare that really messed with my head is how it starts off incredibly slow and quiet, almost boring then suddenly explodes into complete chaos with very little build up as enemies gather around and starts to arm up, but its not like other movies where soldiers get deployed at least from a local base. The first thirty minutes I felt it was a waiting game just watching these guys doing nothing, sitting around, making jokes even when they are doing guard through sniper scope at empty streets and just when I start thinking maybe this movie isn't going anywhere a grenade comes in through the window and everything turns into a nightmare, I really though there were going to be limbs around but somehow it was the type of grenade that only stunt you hard. Im sure the nontraditional story telling of the movie will get you off guard or even loose interest but its worth the waiting, it actually works in favor of the movie because real combat doesn't follow a more traditional structure of planning and execute, there is not much character development, in fact you get to know way more about the characters during the final scene where they show the real soldiers and there is no convenient plot line like a step by step, its all pure circumstance, watching how people react when everything goes wrong at once. Talking a bit more about the characters themself there is Erik by Will Poulter who gets so messed up from an explosion that happens whey they trying to leave that he can barely function, Joseph Quinn spends most of the movie screaming in agony with his legs blown apart and everyone else is just trying to survive while making terrible decisions under pressure specially at trying to keep those wounded alive, making the medical scenes are absolutely brutal to watch, I remember the first scene got me to crunch and close my eyes as they are shoving gauze into massive leg wounds while the guy is screaming so Fng bad and Im telling you watching this movie with headphones is just another experience. A the lead of the squad there was Ray Mendoza who becomes the emotional center of the movie as he tries to save his injured teammates and watching him drag unconscious bodies from outside while bullets are flying everywhere and they screaming their lungs out asking for morphine made me realize how much courage it takes just to not abandon your friends when everything is falling apart.
I know there is a good part of the audience who for the most part think this shouldn't be entertainment but the movie itself never tries to glorify or condemn the war itself, instead it just shows you what happened and lets you come up with your own conclusions about the whole mess, its a situation through a camera lenses nothing more. The movie doesn't take sides or make political statements this is another fact that I really enjoy from the movie, making enough space to appreciate the movie for what it is, this is when I mention dont overthink it, it simply presents the reality of modern combat in all its ugly, confusing and traumatic in detail, probably more powerful than any anti war message that we constantly see on other movies, for example Civil War (2024) from the same director is the opposite. Usually on this movies I see these American soldiers breaking into an Iraqi family's house in the middle of the night, pointing guns at innocent people, and basically holding them hostage while they do a search down, yes the movie also did this once but it just happen and never tries to criticize it, its just facts. Been in Iraq or the whole Iraqui perspective gets very little screen time but the very few times it does then hits hard like when the father kept asking why they doing all this and also when they literally destroy the second floor to get rid of the Iraqi rebels on the rooftop and at the end the family finally comes out like "Its safe, they gone...".
The ending rolling the credits and showing the real soldiers, some of them; felt genuine rather than propaganda may be because I just witnessed what these people actually went through and whether you support the war or not, you can't deny the human cost of sending young men into impossible situations. I think this might be the most honest war movie I have seen even if it's not the most entertaining one. Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza have come up with something that feels more like a documentary than a traditional war movie but I know its not for everyone mainly due to the lack of plot and character development, I know there is a sniper who all he does is scream and ask for morphine. This kind of build up and situations is exactly what makes this movie so good, you know how many times I ask for "Show of Force..." I had no clue that meant having a jet fighter do a close to the floor fly by. I think real combat doesn't care about your backstory or personal growth, in a sense this is short content but in a movie at its best, it just throws you into hell and you get to watch this guys trying to survive and constantly loose hope on them as they get attacked. I also felt like the movie made me understand why so many veterans struggle with PTSD, I would never ever know for a fact but I can only imagine what it is with other invisible wounds inside your mind, because you get a taste of what it's like to be in constant danger and having to stay focus to survive while there are two guys on the floor with their legs blown up and bleeding everywhere, imagine that scene but you HAVE to stay focus. Warfare isn't just a great war movie it's like a reminder that behind every news report about military operations are real people dealing with trauma we cant imagine about and making impossible choices in impossible circumstances.
