Every War Movie Is Political

'Warfare' is good, until it's not.

There’s no such thing as an apolitical war movie. There are political war movies and war movies that don’t know their politics.

Warfare, a new movie from (the always interesting) Alex Garland and former Navy Seal Ray Mendoza, is somewhere in between. At its best, this unsettling and upsetting Iraq War re-enactment is a look at the stupidity, toxic masculinity and pointlessness of warfare. And at its worst, it’s just another jingoistic and chest-beating folk tale to show how important soldiers are and how vital it is to go into another country and tear it to pieces.

It’s a fine line, which Garland and Mendoza handle pretty deftly until the final few moments, in which the film goes out of its way to thank the real-life participants (and victims) for their bravery and fearlessness when called upon. Can’t really argue with the fact that they’re stronger and braver than I would be in the line of duty—I jumped in my seat multiple times throughout—but it almost goes against the entire backbone of the movie, which implicitly states that not going would be the more courageous thing to do.

Warfare joins a long line of “real life” war movies that partially miss the mark and do more to valorize the inanity of war than point out the ridiculousness of the entire enterprise. The movie doesn’t have to outright state that one thing is good and this other thing is bad—few things are that black and white—but Warfare and its recent ilk of American Sniper, Hacksaw Ridge and 1917 ultimately don’t have much to say other than war is bad and these guys involved are always heroes. No matter what.

Warfare is nowhere near as evil as something like American Sniper, which loves to show the gallant American conquer a bunch of faceless others, keep going back and then salute him for his service, but it all feels a bit icky. Especially when you see how traumatic this all is for everyone involved: The American soldiers, the Iraqi jihadists and the families caught in the chaos. Everyone loses, but the movie doesn’t do enough to represent that.

Alex Garland likes to poke at the American consciousness, something he does remarkably well with the underrated Civil War, and this feels like a B-side to the sprawling Cailee Spaeny and Kirsten Dunst epic. Warfare is a more personal, one-location memory piece that has a lot to say despite not always knowing where the sentence will end.

And it’s not like all war movies are bad; I would never say that. There are battle-centric movies I love and/or appreciate, from Dunkirk and Inglourious Basterds to The Pianist and The Hurt Locker, and yet, Warfare is a bit trickier with its muddled worldview and more ultranationalistic approach.

The problem with all of this is that Warfare is pretty good. It never reaches for grander ambitions like some of its predecessors, but as a haunted house, mission-goes-wrong movie, it’s kind of perfect for what it is. The actors are superb across the board, especially D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai and Charles Melton. And the filmmaking is top-notch from its purposefully exhausting sound design to the claustrophobic quarters. Garland and Mendoza create a horrifying nightmare that takes its time to develop and slaps you in the face when you’re least expecting it.

There has been so much slop so far this year, whether it be streaming services putting out lowest-common-denominator trash to Marvel and its fellow blockbuster cohorts dropping their least inspired work in ages, that something like Warfare, despite its cluttered ideas, feels like a breath of fresh air. This is a real movie with real actors made by real people who care about the craft. Trademark Harry Styles. It’s a low bar, but that bar’s limboing down and down.

It has plenty of issues in its ideation and ultimate goals, but I don’t think that necessarily means it’s a bad movie. In fact, there’s plenty to recommend about it, and that’s confusing the hell out of me.

All-in-all, I would recommend Warfare, as long as you’re okay with upping your anxiety levels, but definitely go in with a healthy dose of skepticism. If you’ve made it this far, I’m sure you were already planning to.