by Jake Bourgeois, Contributing Writer
If Netflix had a nickel for every time they released a war film titled War Machine, they’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot (and probably wouldn’t have got them over the finish line on the Warner Bros. deal) but it’s weird that it’s happened twice.
Unfortunately, the lack of creativity doesn’t end with the naming of this film.
In the 2026 edition of War Machine, Alan Ritchson stars as an Army Ranger candidate on his last chance to make the elite team and keep a promise to his brother. When he and the rest of his team face a final test, they quickly find the exercise to be anything but ordinary when they are faced with an otherworldly threat.
As a general rule, war films are usually a genre I can get behind. However, to put it mildly, this is probably not the best time to be putting out a war movie. That uncomfortable feeling is made even more so by the cliched nature of the script. Through a series of training montages and what passes as character moments during the course of the film, there’s nothing at a character or motivation level that goes anywhere close to beyond surface level.
But fear not! It makes up for being an absolutely mediocre war film by also being a mediocre sci-fi film. The big bad is somehow a mix of the design of RoboCop in the 2014 remake and ED-209 from the original RoboCop. Add in the fact that it’s also some sort of Transformer, has the tenacity of the Terminator, and chases (wannabe) special forces members around a densely forested biome like a Predator, and that’s got to be some sort of sci-fi BINGO.
Director and co-writer Patrick Hughes also served as the director for The Hitman’s Bodyguardand its sequel, and that’s a duology that I admittedly am able to have fun with, despite its flaws. However, the reason I’m able to have fun with that is because it’s anchored by two stars in Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson who ooze charisma. So, while the films themselves aren’t necessarily anything special, I’m along for the ride because I’m having fun watching two true movie stars.
Admittedly, I’m not super familiar with Ritchson’s work. I know he’s supposedly great as Jack Reacher in the Amazon Prime series (haven’t seen it), he plays his role well enough in The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, and I forgot he was even in the Hunger Games series until I looked up his filmography. All that to say, I’m not sure he’s someone capable of saving this one. I get that the character is supposed to be in that stoic, never quit mold, and that does work to a point for the character. However, it also becomes the character’s Achilles heel because when it goes for heart, I don’t buy it.
Again, I’m not putting this failure all on Ritchson’s massive shoulders. When the dialogue is this trite and the story beats even more so, I’m not really sure there is a person who could save it. I just know it’s most definitely beyond Ritchson’s capability.
Rating: Didn’t Like It
War Machine is currently available to stream on Netflix.
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