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Warfare, from co-directors and co-writers Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland, is my favorite movie on the 2025 movie schedule, at least so far. It has pretty much everything I thought was missing from Civil War, which, a year ago before I saw it, was the movie I was most excited about for 2024. Garland, who I am a huge fan of, really hit this one out of the park alongside his cohort, a veteran of the battle depicted, Ray Mendoza. There are so many things they get right here.
The Tension In Warfare Is So Palpable
One of the things I was most disappointed in about Garland’s 2024 release, Civil War, was the lack of real tension. I just never felt any real stakes in most of the movie. Maybe it’s because it was from a journalist’s point of view and not a soldier’s, but the tension never grabbed me. The journalists were in peril, but that never translated to my emotions.
Garland and Mendoza succeed at the very opposite of that in Warfare. From the moment the movie begins in the dark with the SEAL team infiltrating the home of a family until the final moments of the film when the soldiers are finally evacuated, I was white-knuckling it. The calm of the first act is so layered in that tension that every time a member of the platoon walked in front of a window, I expected a jump scare and the bullets to start flying. It was truly the calm before the storm, and I was completely engrossed.
Because Warfare Was A True Story, I Was More Invested
As is the case with a lot of movies I watch (I’m not someone who avoids spoilers at all), I read a little about the actual events the movie is based on before I watched Warfare. Because of that, I was immediately more invested in the characters and the real people who inspired them. The movie doesn’t need to tell the backstory, though, as the audience is immediately thrown into this intense and terrifying reality. We learn enough about the characters in that first act than we learn about any of the characters and their relationships throughout his previous war film.
In Civil War, none of the characters felt “real” to me. I think this is because Garland purposely didn’t take a “side” in the fictional conflict happening. We aren’t asked to take sides either, or, more to the point, we’re not allowed to take sides because we don’t really know what the sides are. The movie is deliberately vague, and that makes the characters equally undefined. There may be more backstory to the characters, but those feel as hollow as the reasons for the war do.
I watched Warfare after purchasing the movie with my Amazon Prime subscription, and while I’m annoyed with myself for not making it to the theater, I am excited to watch it again (or again and again and again), because I know there are things I missed and aspects (like the sound design) that are so impressive, I want to relive them. I’m not sure I’m ready to handle the stress of the movie again, and I can’t imagine how the soldiers felt, but I know I will watch it again soon. It will deserve every award that comes its way, and I hope there are plenty.