Warfare (Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza, 2025) Movie • Page 4

Thought this was really well made and intense, but I think I agree with the take that the behind the scenes stuff really undercuts the final moments of the movie.

 

Looking forward to seeing this on streaming soon.

 

A big part of the appeal of this movie was how great and near deafening the sound was in the theatre. Not gonna be as good on the small screen.

 

FRIDAY

 

First he makes a movie called Civil War and then does everything he can to remove any possible analogies to contemporary American politics, and here we have a war movie that has nothing to say about an almost quarter-century of American involvement in the Middle East. This is what Scorsese was talking about when he talked about current movies as amusement park rides.

 

If his intent from the outset was to give the audience a way to experience the intensity and anxieties of a modern US soldier during an urban firefight like that, and not to make a broader statement about the “global war on terror”, are we to fault him for that? IMO, no. Yeah he could have stuck in his lane and repeated what he did with Civil War, but he chose not to.

 

I mean Civil War was bad bad

 

I would think that if Garland wanted to tell an original story with meaning, he'd make his own? This is basically one of those "Based on a true story" movies, he's adapting someone else's (who also co wrote and directed the movie alongside him) first hand experiences.

Which is kinda what civil war is, and criticisms levied towards that are warranted so it makes sense. These are two completely different

 

There are moral responsibilities that come with making a war film. It isn't supposed to be a ride at Universal Studios or a Saw-like horror film.

If you don't want that level of scrutiny there are always stoner comedies or love triangle films. Marvel is always hiring as well.

 

I disagree with that, but to each his own

 

Civil War is not good. But I still maintain that’s it’s not as apolitical as it was made out to be. Nick Offerman is pretty clearly a trump stand in and Jesse Plemons character behaves exactly like you’d expect a right wing militia guy to in that situation.

 

I really liked Civil War, I thought it was an extremely entertaining watch and was dripping with atmosphere.

That said that movie had fuck all to say lol

 

Civil War was bad

 

I only watched the movie once, and I'm not sure if I think it was good or not yet, but I definitely agree that it is not as apolitical as people made it out to be - I do think that it wasn't political in the way that people seemed to want it to be / expected it to be, but I think that's to it's credit and not a weakness

I also think it ended up in a strange place where there is definitely exposition and stuff is explained, but not nearly as much as viewers seemed to have wanted it to be, but it's also not like the novel The Road or anything where we are dropped into proceedings with no explanation whatsoever, and either option seems like it would have been more satisfying to a certain percentage of viewers

 

Yep, definitely agreed there. It balks at that approach in favor of a narrative focusing on journalism instead and I think that’s what drags it down. Its message is confused about the role war and political journalists play. It seems to both condemn their fascination and profit from violence, while also wanting to champion these people as objective truth tellers. It doesn’t say anything new or interesting with either idea.

 

The journalist stories are also bad and poorly done. It’s bad film all around.

 

I think I knew more what Warfare was gonna be going into it, but I was definitely expecting & hoping for Garland to have more to say / better things to say with Civil War given that he came up as a writer

and touching on what @Morrissey was saying up above, I don't agree that a Hollywood war film has any actual moral responsibilities moreso than any other Hollywood movie, but I definitely know that for me I watch a movie about war hoping that it will have something substantive to say about the subject - particularly one where the major creative force behind it came up as and is known primarily as a writer - moreso than I just hope to see "cool looking" war action on screen

kinda why I was so much more excited to see Terrence Malick's Thin Red Line way back in the day vs Spielberg's Private Ryan, not to get too too far off topic

 

The Thin Red Line is probably my most favorite war film.

 

I haven't watched it in a long, long time, but I remember as a 15/16 year old kid thinking that it didn't get the theme / point of the James Jones novel across (yes I was a pretentious little asshole who thought I was Dawson Leary)

I need to watch it again as an adult

 

The Thin Red Line is easily my favorite war film, and one of my favorite movies of all time.

 

looks like I'm rewatching Thin Red Line on Friday