The Reel Review
The sole survivor of a deadly Taliban attack on a U.S. military convoy in Afghanistan signs up for Ranger training in Colorado to honor the memory of his fallen brother, only to stumble upon a seemingly unstoppable alien invader intent on destroying his squadron. Alan Ritchson, Dennis Quaid and Esai Morales star in this action/adventure sci-fi/war thriller.
Even without considering the shocking stupidity of this nonsensical Transformers meets Independence Day premise, this preposterous genre mashup from co-writer/director Patrick Hughes (Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard) takes nearly a third of its hour and 46 minute runtime to get into the meat of the story. But once it does, wow – this mindlessly bonkers story is a non-stop thrill ride.
Ritchson (Reacher, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare) continues to flex his action hero muscles as our heroic protagonist riddled with guilt over not being able to save his brother during combat but ultimately the frenetic, feeble story wears thin, sputtering to a predictable ending and God forbid, a potential sequel. Ritchson at least proves he’s got what it takes to be an action hero, if he can just find a decent screenplay to showcase that.
REEL FACTS
• Alan Ritchson did his own stunts in War Machine, including the nearly two-minute breath holding exercise carrying dumbbells across the bottom of a swimming pool.
• Although set in Colorado, filming took place around Melbourne, Australia and on New Zealand’s South Island. The real-life Ranger Assessment and Selection Program (RASP) is based at Fort Moore (formerly Fort Benning) near Columbus, Georgia.
• This is the second Netflix original film titled War Machine. The other was a 2017 satirical war comedy starring Brad Pitt.
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