My Cultural Diet

There’s something perverse about watching a movie that celebrates the training and tactics of America’s soldiers even as said training and tactics are being used to wage an immoral (and likely illegal) war at the whim of the most vile, corrupt, and ignorant president in recent history. Of course, that’s not the fault of Patrick Hughes, Alan Ritchson, or anyone else involved in War Machine’s production. How were they supposed to know that Trump would start bombing Iran just weeks after their film began streaming on Netflix? Current geopolitical nightmares aside, War Machine is essentially a retelling of Predator, with a group of Army Ranger candidates encountering the titular alien monstrosity during a training mission. What ensues is a decidedly by-the-numbers survival film that makes for some decent late night popcorn viewing, thanks in large part to some impressive and gnarly stunt work. Ritchson, best known for his lead performance in Amazon’s Reacher series, doesn’t have much to do other than look grim and stoic, which he does pretty well. I just wish the film had given him a better one-liner than “Thermodynamics, motherfucker.” The film’s ending definitely leaves the door open for a sequel, which — let’s be honest, here — I’ll probably watch.

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