Content warning: This article discusses topics of war and extreme violence, based on true events, which readers may find disturbing. It also includes spoilers for the movie Warfare.
I’m typically not one to enjoy war movies. But let me tell you, when I saw this cast, I immediately purchased my ticket. Distributed by none other than A24, Warfare is based on the experience of former Navy SEAL Ray Mendoza and what happened during a surveillance mission in Ramadi, Iraq.
This movie uses only the memories of Alpha One and Alpha Two, which refer to the two primary platoons within a larger SEAL unit. The film has a star-studded cast, including Will Poulter, Joseph Quinn, Kit O’Connor, Charles Melton, Taylor John Smith, Cosmo Jarvis, Michael Gandolfini, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Noah Centineo, Finn Bennett, Henry Zaga, and Adain Bradley.
The way this movie was directed and shot was so mesmerizing to see on the big screen. It’s like you’re watching a GoPro video from someone’s perspective. It was shot in real time, not sped up for movie purposes. The opening scene might confuse you when you first turn it on. It opens with the “Call on Me” music video by Eric Prydz with a bunch of Navy SEALs watching, jumping around, cheering, and dancing.
This movie takes a dark turn pretty quickly. We are met with silence almost suddenly as we stare at a street in Ramadi. Alpha One and Alpha Two are walking to take cover/control of houses to provide an overwatch for a US Marine operation. The overall objective of the mission was to establish control of sectors in Ramadi. More than half of this movie is Mendoza’s (played by D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai) memories, so we are only going to be watching Alpha One for a while.
The one thing I really liked about this movie is how silent and simple it was. It wasn’t a big action war movie; it was more of the slow, boring part of someone’s YouTube vlog. Well, I guess only the first half. The next day, Alpha One is taking a sniper position of the market down below to monitor insurgent activity and protect combat engineers. We have about 20 minutes of quiet time until a grenade is thrown into their hideout. Then, they start getting shot at immediately after. This starts the end of quiet time.
The next few scenes are kind of gruesome, so viewer discretion is highly advised. One of the translators is shown dead, as his insides are also shown, with his body torn apart. Very graphic and extremely devastating. If you are in love with Joseph Quinn, like me, I also don’t advise watching the next few scenes. “Oh my god,” he says, over and over again. His leg is on fire, and blood is all over his pants. His screams are muffled outside as he is being dragged inside. Once inside, his screams are absolutely terrifying. I left the theater with his screams seared into my brain. Quinn’s acting in this scene deserved him an Oscar nomination.
Elliott, played by Cosmo Jarvis, is currently unresponsive, with both legs having injuries. In fact, Mendoza dedicated this film to Elliott after losing one of his legs and, as well as his overall memory of the operation. In an article by TIME, “Mendoza says that over the years, Miller would email his fellow service members with questions about the moment. Mendoza decided to make Warfare to help fill in the gaps in his comrade’s memory.”
The last hour of this movie is quite traumatizing, so I’m going to do us all a favor and skip to the end. Alpha Two makes it to Alpha One’s location as they wait for more CASEVAC. Continuous shooting happens until the CASEVAC arrives and just shoots at literally everything. Alpha One and Two make it into the CASEVAC as they continue to shoot, and we see legs all over the ground, along with the translator. They drive away, and that ends the mission. The family comes out of the house to find it completely destroyed, with blood everywhere. The enemies come out of their hiding spots and fill the street. Again, we are met with silence.
“For Elliott,” the black screen read. Skipping right to a video of Elliott visiting Mendoza on set. Side-by-side photos are shown of the actors and the person they were portraying. Some faces are blurred for their protection and safety. They also added videos of behind-the-scenes of Mendoza directing the actors. We even see a photo of the Iraqi family whose home they were in.
This ends the movie, Warfare. As someone who’s not a fan of war movies, I gave this movie five stars on Letterboxd for a few reasons. One being the cast, obviously. A more serious reason is how real it all felt. This, being just based on the memories, made it feel more honest. Another reason was the silence it brought to me and everyone else in that theater. It was dead silent from start to the end. No sound, even over the credits. If I were a film director, I would be prouder of bringing people to silence than I would be over an audible audience. Definitely give this movie a try if you love the war genre and hot men.