‘War Machine’ movie review: Alan Ritchson bulldozes through an efficient sci-fi thriller

Sometimes it is nice to watch a Terminator-type chase film, where a remorseless villain hunts down the protagonist for the sole purpose of killing them. The lack of back story for the villain feels liberating. War Machine is that kind of lean, mean, fighting machine. After the premise is set out, the film is off and running and having great fun doing it.

In Kandahar, Afghanistan, an unnamed (yet another, after Vladimir’s M!) Staff Sergeant (Alan Ritchson) arrives to help his brother’s (Jai Courtney) stranded convoy. An attack soon after by the Taliban kills everyone except the Staff Sergeant and his brother, who is gravely injured. With a badly hurt knee, the Staff Sergeant carries his brother before passing out a few metres from the base.

Two years later, at the Ranger Training Base in Colorado (not Fort Benning), the Staff Sergeant applies for the Ranger Assessment and Selection Program (RASP) to be part of the 75th Ranger Regiment — something the Staff Sergeant and his brother had discussed before the Taliban attack.

Sergeant Major Sheridan (Dennis Quaid) and First Sergeant Torres (Esai Morales) tell the soldiers to leave their names (and by implication, their lives) behind. Each recruit is given a number; the Staff Sergeant is 81. The programme is tough and goes for over eight weeks where scores of candidates are declared “non-select” and asked to leave.

A still from the film
| Photo Credit:
Netflix

While doing well in training, 81 is aloof and does not bond with his fellow recruits, repeatedly refusing a leadership role. There are whispers of 81 carrying his brother back to base from the battlefield and being given a medal for his bravery.

After an exercise in the pool, where 81 does not surface for the longest time, his superiors ask him to drop out, which he does not. For the final exercise, 81 is chosen to lead with 7 (Stephan James) as his 2IC.

The exercise calls for destroying an aircraft and rescuing the pilot. Things start to go terribly wrong once the soldiers land at the site. Communications are down, the compasses behave strangely, and a scary robot-looking thing starts to attack the team, who cannot fight back as they have dummy ammunition.

The machine mows through the recruits with only 81, 7, 15, 44, 109 and 23 escaping, though 7’s leg is badly wounded. Then follows a race to safety, first to the camp where the cadre were posing as enemy soldiers for the exercise, and then back to base. There are news reports of an asteroid fragmenting and falling to earth.

A still from the film
| Photo Credit:
Netflix

Patrick Hughes, who helmed The Expendables 3 and other action films, has created a serviceable, if derivative, action thriller. Ritchson is watchable as always and has done quite a few of his own stunts for the film. Quaid and Morales squint their eyes to signal deep intent. The effects are neither terrible nor great, and the music leans towards the epic setting.

Some plot choices made by supposedly the toughest soldiers on earth do not make much sense, especially, that goofy one on how to cross the river. Despite that, War Machine delivers on its promise of non-stop action and has left the door open for a sequel as well.

War Machine is currently streaming on Netflix