At one point, Alan Ritchson’s nameless character in Netflix’s War Machine – not to be confused with the similarly-titled 2017 satirical war comedy starring Brad Pitt — lays bare the scenario that they (the Army Rangers) have “No comms, no flares, no firearms”. They are injured, outnumbered and completely on their own with no backup. Their enemy isn’t a human but turns out to be a giant alien robot from outer space arriving on Earth to wipe out mankind. But earlier in the movie, during the half-hour stretch, it doesn’t seem like we are heading to the sci-fi action thriller territory.
The movie begins with Ritchson’s character as a combat engineer and his younger brother, played by Jai Courtney in a small role, where we never learn his name as well at the desert road in Kandahar, Afghanistan. They tease each other and mention joining the Ranger Assessment Selection Program (RASP) before things turn into chaos. It was a brief prologue that establishes Ritchson’s character as a PTSD-inflicted soldier who keeps reliving his traumatic flashback every now and then.
The story jumps forward to two years later as we see him taking part in the RASP at the Ranger Training Base in Colorado. From there, it’s a series of familiar training montages, where the Ranger recruits go through hell and back to endure the eight-week program under the supervision of a commanding army officer, Torres (Esai Morales). Like the rest of the recruits, Ritchson’s character is assigned a specific number, where his is 81.
Hughes, best known for directing The Expendables 3 and the two Hitman’s Bodyguard movies, does a decent job navigating 81’s time during the training between his sheer determination of succeeding every endurance test and suffering in silence over his recurring trauma. He doesn’t talk much and barely making any friends, even to the point of having a meal alone in the dining facility. His lack of communication resulted in his army sergeant major (a gruff Dennis Quaid) and Torres viewing him as a liability, particularly with 81’s trauma remaining unresolved.
But War Machine isn’t interested in delving deep into his situation other than addressing the part in a surface-level storytelling. By the time the first act ends, this is where Hughes switches gear in the following act as 81, who’s been selected as the squad leader for the unit that makes it to the final training round, is sent over on a simulated mission. But their mission turns out to be a deadly encounter in the form of an alien robot. The special effect for the robot is technically proficient, while Hughes depicts this machine as a remorseless killer, whose sole objective is nothing more than search, scan and destroy using its heavy weapons. I can’t help but feel like I’m watching a Predator movie. The first one, that is, where a team of soldiers find themselves facing an extraterrestrial threat, echoes the narrative similarity with War Machine. Except that Predator has more personalities, not only from the human characters led by Schwarzenegger’s Major Dutch but also from the titular antagonist.
By contrast, Hughes’ movie cares more about the all-out action moments, just enough to distract me while keeping me entertained to a point. Once the robot attacks, it’s a visceral mayhem all the way that doesn’t back down on the violence and gory parts, which at one point, an unfortunate Ranger recruit suffers from impalement following an explosion that hurls them off the cliff. Another good thing is that Hughes shoots the action sequences in a mix of crisp and dynamic camerawork minus the annoying shaky-cam aesthetics.
Not to mention his commitment to filming them as practically as possible, including a on-location shoot in the rugged Victorian High Country in Australia without relying too much on the green screen. This, in turn, gives the movie a tactile sense of palpability and grounded realism, even with its sci-fi-heavy elements. A significant action set-piece that I enjoy the most is the Cliffhanger-like moment, but instead of the heights between two mountains, the scene involves the Rangers’ attempt to scale a suspension rope above the treacherous rapids.
As for the cast, Ritchson’s stoicism is put to good use, and he’s at his best during the physically demanding stretches while the rest of the supporting actors are reduced to usual archetypes.
