You’d think that a movie called Warfare would kick you off in the middle of a hot zone, a slice of combat in the Middle East, but no, it doesn’t. The movie from co-directors Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland is a fascinating look into the toll and how a simple couple of hours can change people’s lives for the worse. The movie comes entirely from the memories of the men involved in the story. A group of Navy SEALs are on a dangerous mission in Ramadi, Iraq. The Battle of Ramadi is up there with Fallujah as one of the most brutal, bloody, and deadly conflicts during the Iraq War. Warfare pulls no punches, showing what that conflict was like for all sides.

The SEAL team is the central focus of the story but they’re backed up by other Army units that come into play. This story also features two families that play a part of the narrative as well. Like I was mentioning before, the movie doesn’t open up right on combat. This isn’t Saving Private Ryan, it opens on one of the most mid-2000s things I’ve ever seen: a group of young men dancing, jumping, whooping, and absolutely loving the music video for “Call On Me” by Eric Prydz. If you don’t know that music video, it was an absolute cultural icon for people of the time. It was a rite of passage for boys and men from middle school all the way up to adulthood. That’s really the only spot of levity, and the film goes straight into a hellish depiction of war from there.

Warfare has an absolutely stacked cast of current stars and future stars of Hollywood including D’Pharoah Woon-A-Tai, Will Poulter, Cosmo Jarvis, Joseph Quinn, Aaron Mackenzie, Alex Brockdorff, Finn Bennett, Evan Holtzman, Michaael Gandolfini, Joe Macaulay, Laurie Duncan, Jake Lampert, Aaron Deakins, Henrique Zaga, Kit Connor, Noah Centineo, Taylor John Smith, and Adain Bradley.

The various cast members all play off one another in a playful way at the start, but it’s fascinating to see how that playfulness breaks down as the situation in Ramadi breaks down. D’Pharoah Woon-A-Tai plays Ray, who is based on the actual Writer-Director of the film, Ray Mendoza. He plays a central part in communications with air patrols and getting other units to their position. The other actors take their parts as members of the unit, with Will Poulter as the commanding officer.

To distill the story down, it’s an hour and a half, in almost real-time of hell. The SEALs take over a position in a two-resident home, and are ambushed by a force that outnumbers them. The horrors continue when their salvation, armored carriers, are attacked with explosives. Before that point, Warfare feels like your standard, paint-by-numbers war movie. There’s a lot of hoo-rahs, banter, and military jargon. However, once that APC blows up, the movie flips. It’s a painfully accurate depiction of war that pulls no punches.

There is one scene in particular involving the moments just after they drag the injured men back into the house and communications are asking what their status is, that is jaw-dropping. It’s a sonic experience that will make you twitch and pull your hands up to your ears. The cacophony of screaming, yelling, ringing, and whatever else is going on is one of the most overwhelming experiences I’ve had in the theater. It’s one of the most shocking and memorable scenes I’ve seen in a long time.

For those who are worried that Warfare somehow glorifies the horrors of war, you can rest easy. This is no glorification, there’s no spin, this is just the story of these men, and the horrifying things they had to go through. It shows off the tremendous might of the US military, but also shows that even that massive might can mess up and put people in a compromising position. The actors all play their parts masterfully, giving us the range of emotions that people would feel in this exact situation. You can see all the stress, trauma, and even regret on their faces as the day rolls on.

By the time the movie ends, it’s a somber ride. No one is untouched by the horrors of war. Warfare is one of the most important movies of the year for the simple fact that it does not pull any punches. Telling a story from the memories of those involved is a stroke of storytelling that allows this movie to show off everything that goes into the horrors of war.

Warfare releases in theaters on April 11th, 2025.

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