Warfare (2025)

	Directed by: Ray Mendoza Alex Garland	COUNTRY UK/USA GENRE War NORWEGIAN TITLE Warfare RUNNING TIME 95 minutes
	Produced by: Andrew Macdonald Allon Reich Matthew Penry-Davey Peter Rice
	Written by: Ray Mendoza Alex Garland

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Ray Mendoza	D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai
Erik	Will Poulter
Elliott Miller	Cosmo Jarvis
Tommy	Kit Connor	½
Frank	Taylor John Smith	½
Mac	Michael Gandolfini	-
Laerrus	Adain Bradley	-
Sam	Joseph Quinn
Jake	Charles Melton	-

Review

Alex Garland's unintrusive, fly-on-the-wall shooting style and real-time pacing make this slice-of-war film about a stand-off and battle during the Iraq War in 2006 a harrowing experience. This is about as close to documentary filmmaking you can come in a feature, achieved both thanks to the film's non-eventful first half, in which we are given the tactical lowdown of modern warfare, and the completely unsentimental second half, in which Garland treats casualties and injuries almost like a military leader: analytically, factually, and with little regard for emotion or personal experience. There is no real story, arguably because to most people the narrative of war usually seems so random and meaningless. The lead role of Ray Mendoza – a former Navy SEAL who also co-wrote and co-directed – is played by D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, who looks like a future star in the making. This is Garland's best and most focused film since Ex Machina.