Review: Warfare

10 August, 2025 William Eguizabal 0 Comments 1 category

Title: Warfare
MPA Rating: R
Director: Alex Garland, Ray Mendoza
Starring: Will Poulter, Joseph Quinn, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai
Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins

What It Is: A platoon of Navy SEALs must take on a highly dangerous mission in Iraq. As everything around them devolves into chaos, they must somehow reach their rescuers. All hell breaks loose—but how? What happened? Even the company’s commander doesn’t know. Where did it all go wrong?

Based on a harrowing true story, we hear firsthand accounts from those who were there, including director Ray Mendoza, a war veteran himself.

What We Think: The fact that this is based on real-life events makes the bravery on display from the film’s characters even more impressive. At the film’s start, the camaraderie among the soldiers is fun to see—if only to give us some hope before the shattering reality of war hits. When it does, it leaves us drained, sad, but also strangely exhilarated. The adrenaline rush this film delivers throughout is something not many war films can truly achieve. I’d have to think back to something like Black Hawk Down to find another that gets your juices going like this.

A24 brings the heat here, and Alex Garland continues to provoke thought even when making something slightly more than “a war film.” This one is more of a distillation of the human psyche—of what we’re capable of if we find it in ourselves to survive. Visceral, thrilling, and chock-full of adrenaline and brotherhood.

Our Grade: B+, There are trigger warnings all over this film. It is violent and unflinching in it’s display of the simple fact that war is hell. How conflicts rise out of nothing and the chaos that can escalate from something as simple as a gust of wind in a volatile place like the Middle East. I would definitely recommend you check this out!