'Warfare' by Alex Garland Review: Garland does a war propaganda

I think Garland as a director can be a bit hit or miss, but I like the way he directs a film regardless. They tend to have a very specific look to them that is gritty. A look that has film grain texture to it and it's often shot with something that looks rather anamorphic. Wide and cinematic. I liked Civil War in some ways, I like that Garland knows how to handle chaotic moments within a narrative, but if there's a genre I know I couldn't watch from him (or anyone for that matter) it would be a war film. Now, this is just because war films tend to be propaganda in one way or another. Rarely do they display the chaos and horrors of war for both sides of the story, usually it is just some self-praise on heroism despite acts of brutality and mutual terrorism. Instead of showing how regular citizens end up spilling the blood of others in the names of corporations and politicians, they're liberators.

I just knew that this would be such a film, but I figured I'd check it out anyway. And ultimately it is just that: based somewhat on a true story in which a group of Iraq War US soldiers get stuck inside a building as they're constantly ambushed and left desperate to leave as the enemy continues to grow closer. It's not a huge epic in the action sense, but more focused on the anxiety that is induced as the narrative goes on. And that's something I do think Garland handled really well with sound design and his directing. There were moments that really show the intense stress the people were phasing, how young they were and how in over their heads they were as wounded began to become a problem and the fear began to set in. It still did show the horrors of war in some sense, albeit for a glorifying credit sequence that completely lost me as it did begin to praise the US forces. Meh.

I guess this was never going to be a film that lands with me, but I don't regret watching it. And I can praise the technical sides of the filmmaking from Garland's side as a filmmaker. One thing I can also praise is how fast the film felt, which did connect with that feeling of anxiety. It ramps up fast and the runtime quickly disappears as you do find yourself feeling as if things are going by very quickly. Again, this is also a film that doesn't rely too much on the action, there are the moments here and there, but most of the film really is just on how they deal with the pressure within the building rather than the guns all blazing style.