Warfare

Hey everyone and welcome, today we will be talking about the film Warfare. Fun Fact: This movie is based on the memory of the soldiers involved and the character Ray played by D’Pharoah Woon-A-Ti is based on the director of this film Ray Mendoza. This film came out in 2025 and stars Joseph Quinn, Will Poulter, and D’pharoah Woon-A-Ti and was directed by Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza. So without further ado lets get right into it.

Warfare follows a Navy SEALs platoon who become pinned down by Iraqi insurgents after a surveillance mission doesn't go as planned. With numerous injured members, the team must figure out how to get help and get out alive.

Warfare is a war movie that shows how intense war can be. It has similar vibes to Civil War, All Quiet on the Western Front, or Grave of the Fireflies.

Warfare is a movie that caught my attention because it was directed by Alex Garland, who directed one of my favorite movies of 2024, Civil War. I saw a lot of discussion about this being an Iraq war propaganda or pro-war movie and I didn't think it would be after seeing Civil War, so I was interested to know if it would be. I'm glad it's not filmed with that god-awful sepia filter that so many war films have used in the past to show the Middle East.  The movie says it's based on a memory, which is important to distinguish from a true story. They do their best to tell a story with what they remember from the war. The film is dedicated to Elliot Miller who is played by Cosmo Jarvis and upon further review I found out that he is still alive and the movie is dedicated to him because he didn't remember what happened and even tho he's been told or read stories about it seeing a visual of it is completely different.

Going into the movie, we are shown the Call on Me music video by Eric Prydz, which I'm familiar with, but made me question if I was in the right movie. That scene shows them having fun and enjoying life, and that's probably one of the last moments where they are all happy and cheerful. It seems like a weird way to start, but while thinking back, I think it is a great way to show how, when you are in a war like this, you could be having a blast with your friends, you made, and then in the next moment or sometime shortly after, your life could be turned upside down. As the movie progresses, there is just this sense of sadness and shock as these events unfold, and the soldiers have no choice but to try and get their stuff together so they don't all die. By the end, even though they make it out alive, it seems like they will never experience a moment like the beginning of the film.

Warfare is Stressful, Sad, Depressing, and Scary. Even before the bomb drops in the house, you are stressed because everyone is serious and on their guard, and you know stuff is going to happen, but you don't know when or where it's going to happen. It's quite horrifying, first with the grenade, then with the IED. It made me feel the tenseness I feel when I watch a horror film. I was worried if they were going to get out alive, if anyone else would get hurt, and how they would come out of this whole thing. The movie is filmed mostly in one location, which hones in on these horror war vibes because you feel like you, too, are also trapped here and just don't know how to make it out.

I know there's obviously a lot of focus on the soldiers, but another part that worried me was the family who are in the midst of this firefight, which they don't want to be. Their house is taken by these soldiers so they can make surveillance of a group, and I can't even imagine how scared they must have been by all this, and how the entire family is probably traumatized. Everyone has their opinions on the war, and it's sad to think about all the innocents caught in the crosshairs like this family, and even tho they survived, I just feel like they would also have PTSD. I was worried for the family the entire movie, and it kept my stress levels up while watching because I was hoping they made it out, which they did.

The cast of this movie did so great in their roles, especially in scenes where they were communicating without talking. In this movie, we see how everyone has different personalities and everyone responds to something like this differently, and with all the performances, there was not one weak link. There are people like Ray, played by D’Pharoah, who is very serious in his communication role in the beginning, and once the IED stuff happens, he instantly hops into doing whatever he can to help his friend. I could see, though, that he was broken from the situation because he was physically there, but mentally it seemed like he was only partly there, and he was horrified but trying to help. Sam, played by Joseph Quinn, lets out a horrific scream when they save him, and we see how mangled his legs are. He is trying to survive, but he is in so much pain, and even though they need to make a turnikit for his leg, he is feeling the pain, and his screams are just heartbreaking. Let's not also get me started on how people kicked his mangled legs twice when they were supposed to be helping and then tried to give him a pep talk like he was going to shrug it off and start walking. This was the negative side of all these personalities, some people do not realize that in stressful situations let's try to match the energy because you coming in here trying to hype people up who just survived an IED isn't helping and yes everyone wants to survive but tone back the personality and figure out what would be best for that moment which wasn't whatever he was doing. As you can probably tell, that scene made me upset. Erik, played by Will Poulter, is the leader of this team, and he understands all the team's personalities when we see him in the beginning, and knows how to communicate what needs to be communicated. After the IED explosion, he is either having a panic attack or maybe a collapsed lung, but he is not able to lead, and is trying his best to help the team find a way out by calling in backup. Every time I saw him after, I was like Wow, he is not doing well, and who would be, because it's such a traumatic event, and to make it worse, you're still in it. Tommy, played by Kit Conner, seems like a newbie who is kind of excited about everything when we meet him, and he is immediately thrust into the craziness. He is the one who tries to keep offering protection to the group after the IED, but to me, he is still in shock and doesn't know what to do, like whether he should be helping the injured or worrying about the insurgents that have them surrounded. Cosmo Jarvis is the lead sniper who plays Miller and is good at observing people until that grenade drops. I thought he might be fine, but saw he was bleeding, and then when the IED explosion happened, which made me think he was dead. Somehow, he was alive, but in a lot of pain, and he seemed to be in shock. Michael Gandolfini plays McDonald, who helps call in air support when needed and is looking at overhead views of the events. When the IED goes off, he is trying to make sure the family is ok, but also helps tend to Miller when he accidentally shoots the morphine into himself. Charles Melton plays Jake, the Assistant Officer in Charge, who eventually comes to help the guys and take over for Erik, who is struggling to figure out what to do next. He made the calls that needed to be called to ensure their safety and showed that in stressful situations like this, sometimes you have to ignore the rules.

The scenes made me so invested in the film, and I could feel how intense and stressful the situation was, especially because they weren't out of it yet. That's what the film is showing: survival. Warfare is defined as the engagement in or the activities involved in war or conflict, and this movie shows what it is like from the perspective of people who were in it. Everyone seemed broken which I think is important to show, how war has effects on the country and land obviously but for the people engaged in the on-the-ground fighting and the families caught in the midst of it, it is traumatizing and something that they will never forget and the cast did a great job at showing how bad it would feel to be in this situation. It also had me thinking about the future because some wouldn't be able to walk, and I think all of them will have to push on and live life as a broken person, because there is no way you can walk away from that mentally and physically the same.

When I watched Civil War, I was caught off guard by Alex Garland's sound design, and I couldn't remember off the top of my head if that's something he usually does in his films. This movie's use of sound design amplifies the stress and horror, and intensity of the film. The IED scene literally made me jump because it was such a jumpscare, because I was not expecting it. I think that is the purpose because they weren't expecting that either. Then, after the IED, we go from muffled sounds to just hearing Sam scream at the top of his lungs. When they did a show of force, it was kind of cool but also kind of scary because it seemed like your eardrums might pop from that. The way that sound is used makes you feel like you are there experiencing this too, and it had me immersed and completely focused on the movie.

Now, the idea of whether this is a pro-war movie or an anti-war movie, or if any war movie is either, is an interesting conversation to me. I'm going to say personally I think that most can be both because, at the end of the day, it's all about perspective. I see movies like Warfare, pay attention to the news and what's going on in the world, and would never want to join the war after seeing stuff like this, where war takes a physical and mental toll, and then seeing all the lives lost. I think most people who see these movies that show how visceral the violence is of war would turn away, but some might see how these guys cared for each other or how they feel some type of pride for their country, and that may make them want to join. Ray Mendoza said that he wanted an accurate depiction of war.  He isn't focusing on the why with this film because you can look up the why of the war. We all know can look up the role of America, and why people said it destabilized the Middle East. Medozza goes on to say that our youth, who are going to be leaders one day, if they're going to decide to go to war, know that this is what it looks like. He further states this is just the surface of what it could look like, and there are ripple effects to those decisions. I think there will always be a discussion about war movies being propaganda, just like there are talks about mob and gangster films being propaganda, and action films influencing more violence. I think movies are a great way to get messages across but I think people need to look further into stuff like wars and do research on the actual events and come to their conclusions about whether or not they think it was justified and have conversations with people who disagree and agree and see what their reasoning can be which can help you form your opinion. While I think this movie is anti-war because I look at this and say I would never join, I have done outside research to come to that conclusion. This movie isn't trying to tell you to be pro-war or anti-war. At the end of the day, they are just showing what they went through, and you make your conclusion from that.

My favorite part of this film was the cast. I think they all did what needed to be done to make me enjoy the movie and pull out the right emotions while helping to keep me so interested in the story. The movie is short, but I felt connected to them and wanted them to make it out alive.

Warfare is the latest Alex Garland film and a collaboration with Ray Mendoza. The movie feels raw and real and stressful and depressing. I love history and have seen a lot of war movies, and I think I can confidently say that this is one of my favorite war films because what they wanted to show comes across as beautifully haunting. The cast is amazing, and the movie won’t have you on the edge of your seat, but more glued to it, frozen with your eyes fixated on the screen.