A good movie

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was directed by Alex Garland, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, after ‘Civil War’, Garland didn’t waste any time and came up quickly with another war feature but the approach was completely different this time around. Indeed, this time, he went for probably the most realistic depiction of warfare I have seen so far and the end-result was quite intriguing and instead of some bombastic action scenes full of CGI, they focused on the technical details involved when modern soldiers are at work. To be honest, I have to admit that I didn’t really understand what was their actual mission. I had to look it up afterwards and, apparently, they were performing what they call some ‘overwatch’ to support another US marines operation. Anyway, the whole thing went sideways and you spent then 90 mins watching what happened pretty much in real time. In this case, there was no room for politics discussions of this specific war was justified or not. The goal was to show the bond between these soldiers, without showing who were they were at home or even who they were outside their work during such missions (except for one scene at the beginning showing them watching a popular music video at the time). What I found interesting is that, even though they had access to the most advanced technical means available at the time, they still felt helpless against such guerilla warfare involving a dedicated local population fighting for their land. Eventually, the end-result was a little bit dry but also really raw showing the technicality, the skills involved but also how futile it eventually is when you are a hit by a massive IED explodes nearby. Anyway, to conclude, it was another intriguing directorial effort from Garland and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

7/10