Cast: D’Pharoah Woon-A-Tai as Ray, Will Poulter as Eric, Cosmo Jarvis as Elliot, Joseph Quinn as Sam, Aaron Mackenzie as Kelly, Alex Brockdorf as Mikey, Finn Bennett as john, Michael Gandolfini as Lt. Macdonald, Kit Connor as Tommy, Noah Centineo as Brian, Charles Melton as Jake

Written By:Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland

Directed By: Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland (Civil War, Ex Machina)

Studio: A24

Release Year: 2025

Runtime:95 minutes

Rated R for intense war violence, bloody/grisly images, and strong language throughout

Audio Description By:

Written By:

Narrated By:

What Is it: Co-Director ray Mendoza is an Iraqi combat veteran, and teams up with Alex Garland for a visceral experience based on a real mission Ray was a part of, where things went south and not everyone made it home. Ray knows more than most of the typical Hollywood types that war is hell, and he seeks to make an experience you won’t forget.

What Works: Mendoza has the knowledge in terms of how a film like this should be shot, and having him team up with Alex garland, who brought us last year’s think piece Civil War, feels like a logical pairing. Garland has an eye for making a film interesting, and understanding how to stand out from a crowd. Backed by A24 and those legendary “vibes” they’ve got, the film breaks traditional structure and norms to bring the world’s most realistic version of Call Of Duty. Even if Mendoza never directs again, he should be a staple in consulting, bringing his brand of hyper realism to other combat projects. At times, Warfare is less of a film, and more of an experience, with a captivating sound design that might make it for an interesting VR headset watch. The bullets whizz by, the explosions are close, and all from the comfort of wherever you are. But, Ray was there, and there was no comfort. There was no distance.

these directors opt to forgo a natural lead protagonist as Ray certainly isn’t looking to cast himself as a white knight that saved his troops, and is far more interested in realism, and honoring those he knew that didn’t make it. So, while you see familiar faces like Will Poulter or Michael Gandolfini, they are there because the film is trying to realistically portray actual soldiers, dead or alive. The movie has a rather impactful ending, with every actor from the film shown against a picture of their real life counterpart. if they didn’t make it, their face is blurred. It has a sort of reverence about it that challenges you to dare to dislike it.

What doesn’t: And yet, for typical cinephiles, they are programmed to watch war movies that follow some tragic hero’s journey. one of my favorite films of the past few years, Edward Burger’s All Quiet On The Western Front, paints a disturbing and bleak World War II experience without any hope of recovery. it is relentless, and a deceptively disheartening experience. At the end of most War films, we seem to get one who lives to tell the tale, but Burger wasn’t concerned with that. Warfare doesn’t just use a real war, it uses a real conflict, and in an effort to present a truism in being an American soldier in combat, it is less worried about the Hollywood presentation, and the glitz and the glam.That’s why I keep referring to it as an experience, because it feels more like something you inhabit than something you are compelled to follow due to narrative structure. Ray and Alex don’t give us a lot of extra time with these boys before they are in “the shit”, and there are good and bad sides to that choice. One of them means likely, it won’t ever reach the same level of acclaim or accolades as narrative war dramas like Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Saving Private Ryan, or Black Hawk Down.

the Audio Description: I found the audio description for this to not be quite as helpful as it could be. It follows the “rule book” way of not calling anyone by their name until their name is said. The problem is, we are introduced to a lot of men, no women, and they all are around the same age, and if we strip ethnicity from description (which lots of tracks do), we’re left with trying to remember which one had the short brown hair. they don’t really get a lot of description as it is, but I feel like breaking the book, and instead giving us description and name right away would have supported us making better connections. And, for a film that proudly puts its cast against the real counterparts at the end, their casting seems very intentional in order to bring an extra level of realism. there was a better way to support this film.

Why You Might Like it: War movies are your genre, you don’t mind gore, and you play a lot of call Of Duty and battlefield. Or, you are a combat veteran and despite your likely PTSD you are intrigued on what an actual combat veteran has to offer a genre usually dominated by auteurs who have never served.

Why you Might Not Like it: If you do have PTSD, this film is hyper realistic. It essentially forgoes the bombastic score in favor of a visceral sound design, making you feel like you’ve been shot in the comfort of your living room. It is Oscar worthy work, but it might be too much for some. It also doesn’t invest in a typical plot structure, so that could be a turn off.

Final Thoughts: Warfare is something to be felt, heard, and experienced, and while the variant on war may not have toppled the genre, the freshness of perspective was overdue.

Fresh: Final Grade: 8.3/10