Directed: Ray Mendoza, Alex Garland
Written by: Ray Mendoza, Alex Garland
Starring: D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Will Poulter, Cosmo Jarvis, Joseph Quinn, Jake Lampert, Aaron Mackenzie, and Alex Brockdorff
Runtime: 95 minutes
Garland and Mendoza’s ‘Warfare’ is a miraculous, distressing, and must-see whirlwind.
“Alpha Two, we might have guys starting to move on our position.”
This position is located at a home in Ramadi, Iraq. On November 19, 2006, Alpha One, a Navy SEAL team, occupies a residence in a residential neighborhood and soon identifies subtle Iraqi rebel movements from across the street.
What began as an initially benign encounter then escalates into a ferocious confrontation between U.S. troops and Iraqi insurgents, placing the audience squarely in the middle of the visceral, perilous circumstances alongside the SEALs in “Warfare”, one of the most stressful war films in recent memory.
Directors Alex Garland (“Ex Machina” (2014), “Civil War” (2024)) and Ray Mendoza’s “Warfare” is based on an actual 2006 clash and the memories of the soldiers who fought for their lives, their country, and each other on that day.
Mendoza was one of those men who battled in this particular melee.
Ray pulled from his memories, and in an April 10, 2025 NBC interview, he explained that he reached out to other combatants on-site that day.
“I wanted to make (the film) as accurate as possible, which is where all the other guys come in: their memories of what it felt like, what it looked like, what color were things, what it smelled like, the emotional components. You name it. Everything,” Mendoza said.
Garland and Mendoza’s camera hovers within feet or sometimes (what seems like) inches from Ray (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai), Erik (Will Poulter), Elliot (Cosmo Jarvis), Sam (Joseph Quinn), and others as they take fire that pierces through windows. The men shoot back at the enemy combatants, who sometimes seem invisible. During other moments, the adversaries peak or peer on opposing rooftops.
What is clear for Ray, Erik, and the rest of the team is that they cannot simply step out of the nondescript residence and march back to the base on foot. They need bulletproof transports to help escort them out of the deadly hornets’ nest.
With a succinct runtime of 95 minutes, Garland and Mendoza’s picture is mostly set in one location for, perhaps, 80 or 85 minutes. The film reaches outside the aforementioned house for brief periods with moments of street exchanges, broader shots of the surrounding neighborhood, a bird’s-eye view from U.S. aircraft at God knows how many thousands of feet in the air, and one wildly distinctive scene in which perfectly healthy troops celebrate their brotherhood and youth with a specifically alluring and (almost) other-worldly music video from 2004.
However, inside the locale for 80 or 85 on-screen minutes, celebrating is the furthest sensation from the SEALs’ minds. Instead, shooting the obscure snipers, radioing for backup, maintaining their survival, and caring for the wounded dominate their thoughts amongst the chaos outside and inside.
Cinematographer David J. Thompson and the makeup department do not pull punches in physically revealing the agony of war. The movie exposes ghastly injuries in plain sight during repeated instances. These shocking images trigger an instant horror show, and with the surrounding confusion and duress, real-life mistakes can happen.
Even worse, screams of unadulterated anguish pour out of the theatre speakers. At the same time, the sounds of gunfire, attempts at rational discourse, giving orders, and the roar of an occasional jet bleed in and out and over one another.
If the 2025 calendar year ended today, “Warfare” would win the 2026 Oscar for Sound. The 14-member department offers a maze and myriad of layered human utterances and combat-familiar gunfire; they are leveled at varied tones, and silence and muffled moments accompany war’s bombastic clashes and crashes.
With frenzied sounds, gruesome sights, and convincing performances set in a tumultuous predicament, Garland and Mendoza’s recreation of that November 2006 day is a distressing theatrical experience. Audiences are bound to squirm in their seats for most of the picture but also sit up straight at times while observing pure courage as the men fearlessly step out onto a balcony and into the streets in the middle of harm’s way just after brief utterances of “cover me” or at least the motions to do so.
No question, it’s challenging to recall the exact details in this dizzying, miraculous whirlwind of a war film while feeling the palpable trauma during the fog of war and the pure awe of soldiers’ authentic brotherhood to leave no man behind on an – otherwise – ordinary Ramadi street.
Jeff’s ranking
3.5/4 stars
