Warfare (15)

Navy SEAL team Alpha One led by Captain Eric is pinned down inside a residential address by Iraqi insurgents during the 2006 Battle of Ramadi. When the US soldiers are fatally wounded during a planned extraction by an IED, Alpha Two led by Jake bravely answers the call for reinforcements as hails of bullets scythe through the besieged neighbourhood.

LondonNet Film Review

Warfare (15) Film Review from LondonNet

>War is hell – sickening, relentlessly brutal hell – in Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland’s bravura snapshot of bloodstained brotherhood during conflict. Based on Mendoza’s minute-by-minute recollections of a real-life 2006 mission during the Battle of Ramadi and forensic interviews with his former US Navy Seal team, this real-time drama is a physically and psychologically gruelling assault on the senses…

Award-winning sound designer Glenn Freemantle takes no prisoners and seems grimly determined to split open skulls with a blitzkrieg of mortars and bullets scything through masonry and khaki-clad flesh. On more than one occasion, I felt dizzy and nauseous weathering the sonic bombardment. Warfare is an intense, visceral experience that delivers repeated hammer blows to the cranium.

When an improvised explosive device (IED) detonates unexpectedly, bloodcurdling screams of injured soldiers are muffled to replicate blast-induced hearing loss. A sudden disconnect between the wooliness of what we hear and the horrific, stomach-churning vividness of what we see is eerily powerful and disorienting. Volume gradually returns to eardrum-piercing levels, and with it, our discomfort. Imagery is equally unsettling: ragdoll-like broken legs covered in phosphorus burns catch on wall corners as heaving bodies are dragged to temporary safety, appendages severed from torsos lay forlornly in the dirt. Flag-waving patriotism still serves with pride but a bombastic glorification of war goes awol before the first shot is fired.

In November 2006, Navy Seal team Alpha One led by Captain Eric (Will Poulter) gains access to an apartment building under the cover of darkness, accompanied by two Iraqi scouts, Sidar (Heider Ali) and Farid (Nathan Altai). Residents are held hostage as soldiers assume surveillance positions on the building’s second floor. Insurgents are alerted to the Americans’ presence and throw a grenade into one room, badly injuring sniper and medic Elliott Miller (Cosmo Jarvis).

Communications officer Ray Mendoza (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai) requests emergency evacuation of the wounded: “Look for the blood and the smoke. We’re there.” Unfortunately, the extraction results in further casualties including leading petty officer Sam (Joseph Quinn). Pinned down inside the building, Eric and his men, including sniper Frank (Taylor John Smith), gunner Tommy (Kit Connor) and point man Aaron (Henrique Zaga), trade fire with advancing Iraqis as they await reinforcements from Alpha Two led by Officer in Charge Jake Wayne (Charles Melton).

Warfare dazzles and discombobulates with its technical virtuosity but there is scant time to get to know the vast ensemble of characters. A platoon of bright young things from Britain and Hollywood, who underwent three weeks of training prior to filming, compete valiantly with the cacophony. It’s a losing battle but Mendoza and Garland’s picture ultimately grinds out a Pyrrhic victory of broken hearts over shell-shocked minds.

– Kim Hu