Writer/director Alex Garland (“28 Days Later,” “Sunshine”) is one of the more dynamic film directors to emerge in the last decade. After exploding on the scene with his directorial debut, 2014’s critically acclaimed “Ex Machina,” Garland has put together a string of highly original and unique features in their exploration of genres. “Annihilation” is not a traditional sci-fi film. While “Men” can’t simply be labeled horror, there are profound, disturbing elements to his work that make it resonate past the rolling credits. He is, without a doubt, one of the most compelling writer-directors working today, and his latest is a new Iraq-set combat thriller called “Warfare.”
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With this past year’s “Civil War,” Garland pivoted. Stepping away from the sci-fi horror that he’s specialized in up until this point and instead delving into the sub-genre of a dystopian political thriller. The well-received movie showed the filmmaker’s versatility in delivering a narrative disturbingly grounded in modern-day events. “Civil War,” in some ways, calls to mind the January 6th attack on the capital and is, arguably, a critique of the current political landscape.
“Warfare” looks to be a continuation of Garland’s recent exploration into highly relevant cultural terrain, and it also seems a little bit like Ridley Scott’s “Black Hawk Down.” Billed as a collaboration between Garland and Ray Mendoza, a war veteran and military supervisor on Garland’s last feature, “Civil War,” this new action thriller follows Mendoza’s combat experiences during the Iraq War and is a kind of real-time war thriller. From the release of its highly compelling poster, “Warfare” looks to be easily one of the better movies to look out for in 2025.
“Warfare” stars D’pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Will Poulter, Cosmo Jarvis, Kit Connor, Finn Bennett, Taylor John Smith, Michael Gandolfini, Adain Bradley, Noah Centineo, Evan Holtzman, Henrique Zaga, with Joseph Quinn, and Charles Melton. Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza are both co-writers and co-directors. Producers include Peter Rice and Andrew Macdonald.
‘Warfare’ is based on ex-Navy Seal Ray Mendoza’s real-life experiences during the Iraq War.
Synopsis:
Written and Directed by Iraq War veteran Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland (Civil War, 28 Days Later), Warfare embeds audiences with a platoon of American Navy SEALs in the home of an Iraqi family, overwatching the movement of US forces through insurgent territory. A visceral, boots-on-the-ground story of modern warfare, told like never before: in real time and based on the memory of the people who lived it.
A24 will release “Warfare” in theaters sometime in 2025. Watch the first trailer below.
