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| Images courtesy of Netflix |
Alan Ritchson of Amazon's Reacher series headlines Netflix's latest derivative science fiction horror action vehicle, War Machine, a feature exclusive to their platform. This is another misfire that's layered with phenomenal visual effects, some refreshing design work and stilted performances from otherwise talented actors. Headlined by Ritchson, Dennis Quaid, Esai Morales, and Jai Courtney, this is symptomatic of a broken system that places quantity over quality.
Playing like almost every other streaming flick on the outlet, this newest release is a barebones, back to basics spectacle that features zero story and cardboard cutout soldiers that are interchangeable with every other military film under the sun. War Machine is a thoughtless, creatively bankrupt flick that begs, borrows and steals from numerous other better movies that feature actual human interactions. While moments of the "film" (if you can call it that) are fun, it's hard to swallow a movie that so desperately wants to be Edge of Tomorrow and War of the Worlds mixed with Lone Survivor, but soullessly fails at nearly every turn.
While Ritchson isn't the true fault of this movie's utter failures, he just doesn't carry the weight of the project with any charisma. There's no dynamic to his character. He's extremely wooden and flat along with his other stars that are well above their pay grade here. The moments that try to give him some emotional arc, falter under shoddy writing and careless engagement with their audience. Netflix has a real problem with original content. And War Machine, on name alone, is an example of a creatively bankrupt system that churns out numerous mediocre features a year.
If you're looking for some escapist fun, War Machine may scratch that itch. But this is really just another action excursion that trades originality for banality, along with its obvious attempt at crafting a new franchise. Ritchson may be ready for war, but the battle is already lost. War Machine certainly has some cool action sequences along with a high body count, but it never really launches. With some better writing and character development, this could have been a much better beginning for a series. As of now, it feels dead on arrival.
-CG