Follow the final recruits of a grueling special ops boot camp who encounter a deadly force from beyond this world.
Chuck says:
An entertaining mash-up of the original “Predator” and “War of the Worlds,” Patrick Hughes’ “War Machine” is a serviceable actioner that thrills occasionally but ultimately overstays its welcome. Be that as it may, when it’s hitting on all cylinders, it displays moments of genre brilliance, it’s elaborate set pieces, well executed. If nothing else, it serves as a calling card for Alan Ritchson, the actor having cut his teeth on Amazon Prime’s “Reacher,” serving notice that he’s long overdue for big screen stardom.
Having been told to forget their names and assigned a number, the candidates for RASP (Ranger Assessment Selection Program) would be standouts in any group they’re a part of. But in this collection of highly-trained warriors, 81 (Ritchson) is the odd man out. Older than the other candidates, he outworks his much younger rivals and refuses to fraternize with them, preferring his own terse company. And when he refuses to accept any positions of leadership, this raises the ire of the heads of this division, Sheridan and Torres (Dennis Quaid and Esai Morales).
Still, he makes the final cut, and to prove they truly have what it takes, 81 and the rest of the final candidates are sent out on an extraction exercise. A relatively simple mission, they’re to traverse an inhospitable environment, find a downed aircraft and rescue the one survivor (read: a crash test dummy). Problem is, there’s something else awaiting them, an alien war machine with malevolent intent, intending to lay waste and conquer Earth.
Television reports playing throughout the first act charting the progress of an asteroid set to whiz close by our planet set us up for this development. Rising up out of the muck from which it landed, the rectangular outer space threat walks around on two clunky feet and, among its array of weapons, its go-to is a heat ray that vaporizes anything in its path. Obviously inspired by the tripodal martians in H. G. Wells “War of the Worlds,” Tom Allisey and his visual effects crew have created a sleek, lethal update that proves formidable. It also happens to have a glaringly simplistic weakness as do those in the seminal sci-fi novel.
Hughes knows action set pieces are the bread-and-butter of movies such as this, and he and his special effects crew answer the call during two impressive sequences. Having to cross a raging river with an injured comrade on a litter via a cable stretched across it, the director effectively uses very small cameras attached to his actors to put us in the middle of the disaster that ensues. Also of note is an extended chase scene in which the dwindling number of recruits are trying to outrun the alien weapon in an armored vehicle that won’t go over 40 mph. Rapid cutting and Hughes fluid camera which bounces from inside the battered SUV to outside it on multiple occasions make this a showstopping moment.
Ritchson’s stoic, imposing presence is a focal point when lasers aren’t lasing and guns aren’t shooting. But he brings more to the table, giving an effectively modulated, emotional performance as flashbacks provide the reasoning behind 81’s tenacity. That he’s able to introduce a sense of general poignancy amidst the tumult is impressive.
While “War Machine” pales in comparison to the Russo Brothers’ “Extraction” series (also on Netflix) it still manages to get the job done. Ritchson’s work here justifies the on-line chatter that he’s destined to be James Gunn’s Batman. Though far bigger than any previous Caped Crusader, the actor proves here he’s more than capable of stepping into his boots.
3 Stars
