Warfare (2025)

Warfare is another film that I knew very little about. I saw a trailer and was quite intrigued by it so I went into this with the hope that this might be a hidden gem and that proved very much to be the case. The set up of the film is quite simple, a bunch of soldiers are on a surveillance mission in Iraq and then some insurgents start attacking them and the film follows this group of soldiers as they try and escape. The film is told in real time which is one of many reasons why the film is one of the most tense films that I have seen for a very long time. The film starts off with one of the most bizarre beginnings I can recall seeing for a very long time if not ever. As the film begins we see the music video for Call on Me by Eric Prydz and then cuts to a bunch of soldiers enjoying the video. On reflection, this is done on purpose because for the rest of the 96 minutes the film doesn't allow for anything approaching happiness or enjoyment so it's like the directors saying ‘enjoy this, cause this is as good as it gets’. 

There is a mixture of familiar names/faces and new people. Will Poulter immediately stood out to me having enjoyed his performance in ‘Death of a Unicorn’ and ‘Black Mirror: Plaything’ and you couldn't find three more different roles in a short space of time. He is really good at it and pulls it off very well. Another familiar face is Joseph Quinn who was one of the emperors in ‘Gladiator II’ and soon to play George Harrison in one of the Beatles movies, plays Sam who does start to fall apart (understandably so) as the action unfolds and like Poulter he delivers a solid performance and the thing with the entire cast of soldiers is that there isn't a weak one among them. They all pass convincingly as soldiers and this helps to create this world so effectively. Another reason why I loved this film was that it in a singular setting and I love films that do this although making it work is a completely different matter and the tension that runs through the film makes the film feel very claustrophobic.

This film is co-directed by Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland with Mendoza having served in the military and it's clear that the someone with military experience is involved because the way that the action unfolds feels like someone who knows every facet of the terminology used and with war films it's getting harder and harder to make these films feel special and yet this film was totally immersive and captivating. This is a superb film, it has a straightforward plot and yet it is told in such a way that I was never bored and thought that the performances along with the directing help create a scenario that no one would ever want to be in. Superb stuff.

Civil War (2024)

Civil War is set in the near future where the U.S is at war with itself and some of the states have seceded from the union. Kirsten Dunst plays Lee who is a war photographer who along with Joel (Wagner Moura), Jessie (Cailee Spaeny) and Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson) try to go to the White House to interview the President and that’s the plot with the characters encountering people along the way. 

I like these type of stories. I’m not sure when they are done well then they work really well and you end up feeling like you know these characters which is a really weird thing to write but bearing in mind connecting with characters is part of the point of films, it perhaps shouldn’t feel weird writing it. There is something weary about Lee as she feels like she has seen too much of it and almost looks at Jessie with envy and jealousy at the same time. I always get distracted when Wagner Moura is on screen because when I see him he reminds me of Narcos when he played Pablo Escobar (brilliantly I might add) but that’s not really his fault and Joel is perhaps the nice character that Lee needs in her life. Cailee Spaeny does well with what is a rather flat character. I think she has her moments but I always found the dynamic between Lee and Joel to be more interesting even though there was a passing of the torch thing going on with Lee and Jessie. Stephen McKinley Henderson is as dependable as ever and his death scene was sad to watch. It did seem like mobility was an issue as all his scenes involved him sitting down or standing still.

Jesse Plemons did steal the show even though he was only in it for about 10 minutes. He’s such a good actor that he only needs 10 minutes to show how good he is. That scene was probably the best in the movie and was by far the most dramatic and tense. According to trivia I have read, Plemons’ involvement was last minute as another actually had to pull out and being married to Dunst meant that he was able to jump in at the last minute and deliver a film stealing performance.

The final 10-15 minutes let this film down badly. It feels extremely rushed and when Lee is killed, there is zero time given for her death. We have just spent over an hour with her and got to know what she is like and dare I say it, care for her and yet she is treated like she is a background extra who doesnt matter to the story. 

Also the showdown with the President is thrown away like it didn’t matter even though it's the motivation for the entire movie. I usually over play what the scene might be like in my head but there can’t be anyone who thought that this was how the final scene was going to end. It felt like a waste of time.

Despite Alex Garland not sure how he was going to end his own film. I still enjoy everything up until the White House stuff. I thought that the film was tense and despite it being essentially a road trip movie, the characters all feel genuine and the whole feel of the film feels real especially with the chaos the world seems to be in at the moment. I think that Civil War is definitely worth seeing but don’t go in with hopes of a satisfying resolution.