‘Warfare’ Review: Alex Garland’s Iraq War Film Is Full Of Bombastic Aestheticism That Leaves You Feeling Empty

deadline.com:

The legendary Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami once wryly remarked that he prefers “the films that put their audience to sleep in the theater.” Frequently taken out of context, Kiarostami’s statement was part of a larger rant against what he saw as a certain scourge in Western filmmaking, that of the blockbuster which takes its audience “hostage,” overwhelming with bombastic aestheticism that nails you to your seat but leaves you feeling empty.

Kiarostami might’ve had a word or two to say about Alex Garland, whose latest vision of American dystopia is uncharacteristically situated in our real-life and immediate past.

Warfare is set during one day in November of 2006, when a Navy SEALs outfit was suddenly faced with an evacuation straight out of hell’s gate.

Though the film is meticulously based on first-hand accounts from survivors of the mission, it is incuriously unspecific, as generic and as politically inscrutable as its title is nebulous.