The Legend of Ochi (2025) – Review
Quick Thoughts
- Grade – B
- Three years of post-production, months of scouting Romanian mountains, and 200 matte paintings. The Legend of Ochi is a lovingly-crafted A24 family adventure film. I wish more work would’ve been put into the script and characters, but it’s hard to dislike this hand-crafted throwback.
- The Romanian shooting locations are beautiful
- Between The Legend of Ochi, News of the World and System Crasher, Helena Zengel has proven herself to be a powerhouse actor
- The puppetry and practical effects put a big smile on my face
Shot in eight weeks, and fine-tuned over three years of post-production, The Legend of Ochi is stuffed with 200 matte paintings, painted frames and enough practical effects to make you feel like you’re back in the 1980s watching The Dark Crystal or The Neverending Story. Director/writer Isaiah Saxon (check out the music videos he directed for Grizzly Bear and Björk), started working on the film full-time in 2018 and his artistic expertise has stretched the $10 million budget to create a neat spectacle. On top of the beautiful practical effects, the Romanian landscapes are equally as impressive. Saxon and his wife scouted the Carpathian Mountains of Romania for close to two months and they found themselves in every small village and backyard they could find. The scouting trips were a success because I was tempted to pull out my phone during the movie to learn where the film was shot (I didn’t). The mountainous terrains, windswept valleys and dense forests look incredible and add to the dreamlike vibe of The Legend of Ochi.
In an interview with The Film Stage, Saxon said that he worked himself to near death to make The Legend of Ochi “feel like the movies we like feel, which are [Carroll Ballard]’s The Black Stallion –– and Quest for Fire.” He’s mostly successful in his mission as the film blasts the senses, but it would’ve been nice to see him put more interest into the overall story. When making a sensory-blasting experience the visuals often take precedence over the plot due to their difficulty and importance. This is the case with The Legend of Ochi, and it’s a bit of a shame because the high-concept and familiar storyline leave room for an interesting and fully fleshed out world and story.
The film opens with a nighttime hunting scene led by a ochi killer named Maxim (Willem Dafoe), and a group of local children whom he’s trained to murder the primate-like creatures. The ochi, who have blue facial features and reddish fur eat local wildlife and their presence is so dangerous that a curfew is in place to ensure they don’t attack villagers after the sun sets. During the hunt, an adorable baby ochi is separated from its mom and later in the night the critter gets its leg stuck in one of Maxim’s traps. The next day Maxim’s daughter Yuri (Helena Zengel), finds the injured ochi while checking the traps. Instead of killing the baby ochi, she decides to return it to its home deep within the Carpathian Mountains. What follows is an adventure that includes infected ochi bites, makeshift rafts, and Yuri meeting her mom Dasha (Emily Watson).
The highlight of the film takes place in a supermarket where a hungry Yuri stops to grab some food after a long night of trekking through the woods. The usage of primary colors (yellow, red, blue) inside the store and in the parking lot works wonders, and it’s the type of scene I wanted more of. What makes the moment work are the small details like the vampire teeth that Yuri wears into the store which adds a fun edge to her dirty yellow jacket, matted hair, and a backpack that seems to have something inside it. The scene ends with a shotgun-yielding store attendant noticing the ochi and the ensuing shopping cart chase and stolen car make the film come alive.
At a brisk 95 minutes, the film moves along at a breakneck pace which leaves little time for character dynamics and backstory. It’s easy to understand why Saxon didn’t want to make a two-hour film because the extra minutes would’ve added years of post-production. However, the narrative never quite clicks as most of the humans feel superfluous to the story. Finn Wolfhard’s character Petro gets lost in the story and Maxim leading a pre-teen group of ochi killers isn’t necessary. That being said, The Legend of Ochi is still worth watching on the big screen because of the insane amount of work and love that went into it. Saxon went all out for his film and he even hired primate motion choreographer Peter Eilliot, a living legend who has stuffed himself inside ape suits for Congo, Quest for Fire, Greystoke, Gorillas in the Mist, Tarzan, King Kong Lives and even The Omen – to make the ochi creatures come to life.
Final Thoughts – The Legend of Ochi is a sight to behold, but the intense amount of work spent on the visuals cost the story.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 618: The 2015 Action Movie Moments Draft
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome.
Mark, Aaron and Brandon draft their favorite 2015 action movie moments. In this episode, you’ll hear them talk about the cool action scenes in Kill Zone 2, Veteran, Mad Max: Fury Road, Bone Tomahawk, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Baahubali: The Beginning, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Creed, Spy, and many more 2015 action movies.
Make sure to listen to “THE SUMMER OF 2015 AT 10” when it premieres April 28 (4/28/2025) on The Brandon Peters Show. Also, make sure to listen to Out Now With Aaron and Abe and 2 Black Guys Talk Godzilla wherever you listen to podcasts.
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
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Sinners (2025) – Review
Quick Thoughts:
- Grade – A-
- Ryan Coogler has crafted a crowd-pleasing bloodbath that is big, bold and fun.
- Like Starship Troopers and Robocop (all-time movies), Sinners can be watched on multiple levels. Viewers can simply enjoy the vampire carnage, or they can consider the themes that Coogler is exploring.
- Watch it on the biggest screen possible.
- The costume design by Ruth E. Carter is perfect.
Quick Note – If you haven’t watched the trailers, this review contains slight spoilers.
After the success of Fruitvale Station, Creed, Black Panther, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, I love that Warner Brothers gave director Ryan Coogler $90+ million to make an R-rated vampire film that in Coogler’s words “delivers a Michelin Star restaurant experience in a McDonalds.” With the rise of Blumhouse, A24 and the Shudder streaming channel, not many horror films or creature features receive large budgets nowadays, so it’s nice seeing an A-list group of creators make a Michelin Star worthy grilled cheese sandwich.
When writing the film Coogler said that he poured “all of his worst fears into it” and also included his love of The Twilight Zone, The Thing (1982), Stephen King, The Faculty, From Dusk Till Dawn, and the Coen brothers to create a genre-fluid film that’s hard to pin down. Coogler also drew inspiration from his relationship with his uncle James, who grew up in Mississippi and always listened to blues music when Ryan was around. Typically, a film with this many ideas and influences would feel bloated, but since the writer/director is Ryan Coogler, Sinners never gets weighed down and it has a distinct personality.
The film takes place in the Jim Crow South in the 1930s, and the first half of the film is spent getting all of the major players to a soon-to-be besieged juke joint. The characters include former soldiers/gangsters Elijah “Smoke” Moore (Michael B. Jordan) and his brother Eilias “Stack” Moore (Jordan again) who buy an abandoned sawmill from a sweaty guy named Hogwood (David Maldonado) who uses the word “boy” when talking to the twins. They plan to make it a place where the community can come together and listen to the otherworldly music played by their guitar-yielding cousin Sammie (Miles Canton). They also recruit harmonica- playing Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo – wonderful), an alcoholic musician who adds comedic relief, and a big guy named Cornbread (Omar Benson Miller) to be their bouncer. They buy food and signage from shop owners Grace (Li Jun Li) and Bo (Yao) Chow, who also agree to help tend the bar and set the place up for the opening night. Rounding out the crew are Stack’s former flame Mary (Hailee Steinfeld), and Smoke’s ex-girlfriend Annie (Wunmi Mosaki), a Hoodoo practitioner and cook.
What’s great about Sinners is that it takes its time introducing characters and setting up its chess pieces. A lot is learned about the Moore brothers as they drive on the Clarksdale, Mississippi dirt roads in their nice convertible. They left Chicago because it was “Mississippi with skyscrapers,” and the Irish beer and Italian wine in their truck was stolen from Chicago gangsters. They also splash cash around their town in generous and unsustainable ways, and when two men attempt to steal their beer, Smoke non-fatally shoots them in broad daylight on a busy street. The brothers have been hardened by war, death, loss, racism and abuse from their alcoholic father – but there is still some sensitivity left in them. When Smoke recruits Annie to cook for the bar, we learn that their child died as an infant and he still wears the mojo bag she made for him. All of these moments humanize the characters, which makes the violence that permeates the second half of the film far more interesting.
As the sun goes down, the juke joint opens and for a few hours, it’s a paradise for the patrons who get to enjoy themselves and not worry about the pressures of living in the 1930s South. The enjoyment is interrupted when an Irish musician/vampire named Remmick (Jack O’Connell) shows up with his acolytes Joan (Lola Kirke) and Bert (Peter Dreimanis) and asks for entrance into the juke joint so they can play some music (they need to be invited in). When they are denied, they wait outside and soon the people who exit the bar start joining their ranks. I don’t want to spoil anything else, just know that vampire’s mouths latch onto necks, jaws explode, and many people die during the ensuing battle.
On a technical level, Sinners looks amazing. The costume design from two-time Academy winner Ruth E. Carter is perfect, and the production design by Oscar winner Hannah Beachler is top-notch. A lot of work went into creating the Mississippi towns, homes and bars (the movie was filmed in Louisiana). The score by Ludwig Göransson works wonders and Autumn Durald Arkapaw’s (I love her The Last Showgirl DP work) cinematography is fluid and expansive. Coogler and Durald Arkapaw’s decision to shoot the film on 65mm film with IMAX and Ultra Panavision 70mm cameras was inspired and it looks great as the aspect ratio changes from 1.43:1 to 2.76:1. It’s the first film to be shot in both ratios and I highly recommend you check out this video where Coogler explains all the aspect ratios.
Final Thoughts – Sinners is a great-looking grilled cheese sandwich and it’s worth watching on the biggest screen possible.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 617: Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013), James Wan, and Well-Timed Jump Scares
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome.
Mark and David continue their Insidious franchise discussion by talking about Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013). Directed by James Wan, and starring Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, and several well-timed jumpscares, the film pits the Lambert family against another terrible demon. In this episode, they also talk about PG-13 horror films, jump scares, and the excellence of James Wan. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
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Eephus (2024) – Review
Quick Thoughts:
- Grade – A
- Director, editor, producer, and co-writer Caron Lund has crafted a laidback and poignant comedy
- The various vignettes are delightful and I like the way each player gets a moment to shine
- There’s a bit about a meatball pitch that’s more like an“entire Italian dinner” that might be my favorite movie moment of 2025
- I love it.
I taught English in South Korea in the late 2000s and one of the best decisions I ever made was to join the local soccer club made up of a cavalcade of rogues from all over the world. Skill-wise, I was the least experienced person on the team, but I could run up and down the field for 90 minutes which annoyed many of the out-of-shape (but more skilled at playing soccer) people I played against. There’s something about semi-athletic people coming together to play sports that can create lifelong friendships and memories (and broken fingers), and Eephus reminded me of my time on the soccer field.
Directed, written, edited and produced by Carson Lund, Eephus is an immersive and atmospheric “ambient comedy” that is more concerned with mood than the score of the baseball game being played. The film eschews the traditional three-act structure and instead follows the final baseball game being played on a rec-league field that will soon be home to an elementary school. The term “Eephus” is the name for a doozy of a pitch that hangs in the air for so long that it effectively warps the batter’s perception of time, place and reality. There’s nothing mystical about it, it’s just a slow pitch that somehow moves faster than expected. It’s a perfect metaphor for the movie as the 99-minutes fly-by despite it not being in a hurry.
While non-baseball fans will appreciate the experience, the movie plays well for people who are familiar with the charms of baseball and know that it’s punctuated by a lot of downtime and the occasional burst of excitement. During the nine innings, there is plenty of time for people watching, hot dog eating, beer drinking, and soaking up the ambiance of the game. There is something nice about buying outfield tickets and settling in for the long haul. Lund (who plays rec-league baseball) understands this, so he poured a lot of time and energy into creating an authentic home run.
Eephus is justifiably being hailed as a “hangout” masterpiece, but it took a lot of work to make it seem so chill. Carson and his brother Erik (who worked as the art director, production designer and co-creator of the score) scouted over 100 baseball fields in the New England area so they could create the “insular and isolated” atmosphere needed. The field has seen better days (like the players) but the worn grass and battered running lanes showcase the field’s personality and make it a supporting character. Erik Lund also put a lot of work into the costumes as each player’s jersey comes from a different era of the rec-league – so even though their shirts have the same team name, they are all different and unique. Cinematographer Greg Tango didn’t have it easy either as the film is mostly reliant on natural light and takes place over one day, so everyone on set had to pay attention to where the sun was and what scene took place during that time. Also, the sound mix must’ve been insane as sound mixer Joe Fiorillo ran up to 12 independent channels during the production to capture the natural sounds of the field and the quips being let loose by the players. Toss in rain delays, actor’s schedules, and field maintenance and the entire crew went through a lot to create a relaxing experience.
The loose plot revolves around a baseball game between the Riverdogs and Adler’s Paint. The two squads are made up of players between the ages of 25ish and 65ish, who can either crank home runs or need a stool to sit on so they can be the catcher for more than one inning. The men are competitive, but they aren’t raunchy, and when a rude reference is made about a player’s girlfriend, it isn’t taken well. They complain about “meatball” pitches and drink too much Narragansett beer, and the only thing they agree on is that the worst part of the game is the running. Bystanders come and go, a pizza vendor shows up and admits that he’s tired of the pizza business, and another man waxes poetic about hot dogs. There are hecklers, families and a nice guy named Franny (Cliff Blake) who logs the stats for each game. The 1990s setting isn’t too noticeable and it gives it a nice old-school vibe that benefitted movies like the Richard Linklater-directed Dazed and Confused and Everybody Wants Some!!.
If you’re looking for an inventive and endearing movie I recommend you check out Eephus in theaters or when it’s available for rental. You won’t regret it and you’ll find yourself wanting to talk about meatball pitches that feel more like an entire Italian dinner.
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John’s Horror Corner: Street Trash (1987), a cult classic melting horror that’s both visually and morally disgusting.
MY CALL: A bad movie of legendary status, this is the raunchy, slapstick, exploitative movie you’ve been looking for… MORE MOVIES LIKE Street Trash: Not much). Well, there’s obviously the remake of Street Trash (2024). For more “melt horror” consider The Devil’s Rain (1975), The Incredible Melting Man (1977), Slime City (1988), The Blob (1988), and Body Melt (1993).
A liquor store owner exploring the long-forgotten recesses of his business’s dusty basement discovers a 16-year-old case of liquor called Viper, which he sells very cheaply to the abundant local homeless population. The first vagrant to drink this aged quaff becomes the victim of the movie poster, instantly beginning to melt down to the bone with thick blue and green and pink goop pouring down his tibia and over his old boots. His body melts down into a toilet leaving his dismembered boots behind in a death scene worthy of a Toxic Avenger origin scene! This, folks… this is already worth the price of admission to this ultra-messy cult classic.
These Viper deaths are disgusting delights. It turns out, even the melted guts of the victims are as caustic as the organ-melting acidic liquor itself. This movie is both visually and morally gross. At one point, a man induces vomiting on someone he beats up in a fight, and some unfortunate things happen to women.
Truth be told, after the first (truly spectacular) death scene, we wait a very long time (like an hour) for more action worth watching. Watching this movie boils down to the enjoyment of one key scene in the beginning, and a medley of gory deaths in the last 20 minutes. In between there is a lot of gratuitous nudity and socially problematic scenes essentially depicting sex crimes and violence against women.
Overall, this is a very satisfying effects flick. Death scene effects include a exploding fat guy with chonky gore raining everywhere; gnarly, melty death showing several stages of melty disintegration; melting boobs; and then some long-running severed phallic gags.
The plot is pretty thin—not that we should care for this kind of movie. A cop begins looking into the deaths, there is insurgence among the homeless hierarchy in the local junkyard, and a lot of colorful slime oozes, spurts and sprays from melting victims. And did I mention the gratuitous nudity and sex crimes?
Based on his 1984 short film Street Trash, director J. Michael Muro brewed this goopy feature length delight. Somehow, Muro never went on to do more horror or movies at all. Too bad. This occasionally slapstick, quirky little movie has a lot to offer for fans of gory, raunchy, even exploitative 80s fare. This is truly a cult classic, and worthy of its timely 2024 remake.
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John’s Horror Corner: Talk to Me (2022), an effective and shocking Australian horror movie about teens taunting the spirit realm.
MY CALL: This movie is solid and well-made at every corner. There’s nothing original to be found here, and I just don’t care. It’s shocking, brutal, well-written, well-acted, and well-executed with great scares. MORE MOVIES LIKE Talk to Me: There are undeniable stylistic comparisons to be made with Smile 1-2 (2022, 2024)—and all of those comparisons are positive.
As a sort of party game, a group of high schoolers grasp an embalmed severed hand, see the dead, and “invite them in.” Sounds like the kind of thing that ends up nowhere good and with a few teens not making it to graduation day. Playing this game results in temporary spiritual possession, some very creepy possessed ranting maybe harbingering bad things to come, and lots of laughs… because they’re teenagers and consequences don’t yet exist in their minds.
Addicted to the thrills, they all rush to play again, and again, and again. This party montage is outstanding. These cackling party teens are enjoying this reckless taunting of the spirit realm to such degree that I find myself looking forward to their punishment that the film inevitably holds.
Of course, things get weird when a conjured spirit turns out to be the deceased mother of one of the partying teens, and subsequently a spirit attempts to kill its possessed teen fare most brutally by relentlessly smashing his face against every edge of every piece of furniture within reach. It’s quite the shocking scene, and I’m now thrilled with my decision to watch this movie. Like Smile 1-2 (2022, 2024), the self-harming scenes are truly jarring.
It seems that a spirit may have slipped through the cracks… and now Mia (Sophie Wilde) sees dead people and receives guidance from beyond. And we all know how well that generally works out in horror movies. Is this spirit really trying to help?
Long story short: a group of teens dabble in the occult and get what they deserve.
This movie doesn’t take us anywhere we haven’t been or show us anything we haven’t seen. There’s nothing particularly novel in the premise or storytelling either. Yet… this was still pretty damn good! Sometimes we don’t need highbrow concepts and pithy lore. Sometimes we just need simple horror stories told well. This is one of those. And for this reason I’ll again compare this film to Smile (2022), for which I feel the same way and find yet even better.
Everything about this film is well done, from casting and acting, to editing and execution. Directors Danny and Michael Philippou’s first feature film is a triumph in the horror genre. I’m looking forward to Talk to Me 2 and even more to perhaps different horror thriller endeavors.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 616 – The William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet: Music from the Motion Picture Draft
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome.
Radiohead! Everclear! Garbage! The Cardigans! Des’ree! Kym Mazelle! Butthole Surfers! The Romeo + Juliet (1996) soundtrack rules and Mark and Zanandi have a great time talking about their favorite songs from the triple-platinum selling album. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
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The Amateur (2025) – Review
Quick Thoughts:
- Grade – C+
- The core idea is solid, but the adaptation of Robert Littell’s 1981 novel of the same name packs way too much into its 123-minute running time.
- Between Rami Malek, Rachel Brosnahan, Jon Bernthal, Laurence Fishburne, Caitríona Balfe, Michale Stuhlbarg, Holt McCallany and Julianne Nicholson, the cast is stacked.
- It’s boring to say but this would’ve worked better as an eight-episode TV season because there is a lot of cool stuff that would work better with more time
- I’d happily watch Malek engage in more CIA shenanigans
- It’s nice seeing The Pacific reunion between Bernthal and Malek
Produced by and starring Rami Malek, The Amateur should’ve been a fun showcase for Malek to showcase his physical prowess and action chops. Instead, the adapted screenplay from Ken Nolan and Gary Spinelli loads the film with conspiracies, globe-trotting adventures, mysterious hackers, dead wives, rakish spies, assassins, good Russians, bad Russians, good CIA employees, bad CIA employees, hacked computers, chase scenes, bathroom explosions, mourning periods, the Finnish navy, stages of grief, and Laurence Fishburne popping up all over the world. It’s a lot.
The 2025 film wisely ditches a few of the elements from the 1981 book (EG – vengeance has therapeutic characteristics), but it should’ve laser-focused on the exploits of CIA cryptographer Charles “Charlie” Heller (Rami Malek), a brilliant hacker with an IQ of 170 who goes on a mission to murder the people who killed his wife Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan). The unique twist is that Charlie has zero combat training and his slight build doesn’t do him any favors while tussling with burly mercenaries. This means that Charlie has to rely on his computer skills and brains to hunt down the four people who killed his wife – while going through the five stages of grief. It’s a tough task made tougher by the fact that his corrupt CIA boss Director Moore, (Holt McCallany) hires a field operative trainer named Henderson (Laurence Fishburne) to hunt Charlie down because his revenge mission unearthed incriminating evidence that could lead back to Moore. From there, a lot of story happens and it takes away from the swimming pool explosions.
The idea of a brilliant guy with zero fighting skills traveling the globe to kill hardened soldiers is pretty great. However, The Amateur plays things a little too seriously and only comes alive when Charlie does things like subverting the “walking in slow-motion away from explosions” trope by comically flinching when an explosion goes off behind him (He credits Heath Ledger’s Joker performance in The Dark Knight for the flinch). The highlight of the film happens inside a Parisian allergy clinic and features Charlie being rag-dolled around the facility by a female mercenary who isn’t happy about the pollen bomb Charlie unleashed on her. There are no Jason Bourne-esque theatrics, instead, the trained killer (with a severe allergic reaction) kicks, flips, punches and knees her way out of the building and leaves Charlie trailing behind her. It’s also fun watching Laurence Fishburne’s character Henderson using minimal effort to keep up with Charlie during a foot chase because he keeps plowing into nightclub patrons, bystanders and anything else in the Paris streets.
The biggest problem with The Amateur is that there are way too many actors taking screen time away from Malek’s adventure. The cast is stacked, but when you have Rachel Brosnahan, Jon Bernthal, Laurence Fishburne, Caitríona Balfe, Danny Sapani, Alice Hewkin, Michael Stuhlbarg, Holt McCallany and Julianne Nicholson fighting for screen time, not all of their characters will get the time they need to be anything more than one-dimensional problems. The director James Hawes knows his way around the spy genre as he’s directed six episodes of the excellent Apple+ show Slow Horses. However, he doesn’t put enough of his personality into The Amateur and the result feels a bit bland. The technical highlight is the cinematography by Martin Ruhe (Control, The American, Harry Brown), who knows how to create interesting frames in dimly lit sub-basements and Paris nightclubs. Ruhe is no amateur and his work gives the film a classy vibe that is always visually interesting.
The Amateur is the type of film that would’ve played well on cable in the 1990s and 2000s, and the fact that a Rami Malek action film is getting a big theatrical push is great. However, when adapting the 1981 book it would’ve been nice if the writers took a step back and focused on what was important (Malek getting tossed around).
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Warfare (2025) – Review
Quick Thoughts
- Grade – B+
- Cosmo Jarvis and D’Pharaoh Won-A-Tai steal the show.
- Get ready to have the Eric Prydz song “Call On Me” stuck in your head
- Don’t expect the bombast (big speeches, epic moments) of other war films. Warfare tosses you into the action and doesn’t have time for extraneous plot.
- The sound mix is the MVP
- Mendoza and Garland (co-directors) shot it in 21 days. Dang…
Shot in sequence over 21 days, Warfare is an effective and lean experience that comes from the memories of the Navy SEALs who fought alongside co-director Ray Mendoza during a 2006 mission in Ramadi, Iraq. The 95-minute film takes place mostly in real time and refreshingly doesn’t have time to feature big speeches, over-dramatized theatrics or pretty much anything outside of what’s happening to the NAVY seals.
After working as a technical advisor on movies and TV shows like Lone Survivor, Act of Valor, Jurassic World, The Terminal List and The Outpost, Ray Mendoza was hired to be the Military Advisor on the Garland-directed film Civil War. Mendoza impressed Garland with his technical know-how and ability to stage well-executed skirmishes (especially with the final gunfight). After production wrapped Garland asked Mendoza if he had any stories that could be adapted into a feature-length film. Mendoza told him about a particular mission in 2006 when one of his fellow SEALS was injured during a skirmish and didn’t remember the event or the lengths his platoon went to keep him alive. The two then co-wrote a script with events pulled from the memories of Mendoza’s former platoon members who were there with him in Iraq that day. During a Q&A, Mendoza stressed that Warfare isn’t one of those “based on a true story” films that play fast and loose with a true story. Instead, Warfare closely sticks to what was remembered about the event and it’s an interesting storytelling exercise because it adds an authenticity to the proceedings that is lacking in most war movies.
Instead of opening with a massive battle or dramatic skirmish, Warfare opens with Eric Prydz’s famous Call on Me music video that features the scantily-clad Australian dance choreographer Deanne Berry teaching an absurd aerobics class. It comes across as gratuitous but that’s when editor Fin Oates pulls off the best editing transition of 2025 (so far) by cutting to a platoon of SEALS loving every second of Berry’s dance routine. It’s a fun moment and most importantly it features all the main characters in front of a computer screen as they enjoy a moment of levity before they engage in warfare.
After the fun moment, the platoon led by Erik (Will Poulter) enters Ramadi under the cover of night and selects a home to run their operation out of. The strategic location allows them to see in all directions, however, there is a walled-off section that separates the two families who live in the concrete two-story home. The decision is made to knock the wall down, which alerts local soldiers to their whereabouts and leads to a large gathering of soldiers who encircle the platoon. The following morning the local soldiers start probing the second floor with gunfire, and sniper Elliott (Cosmo Jarvis) is injured. His hand injury is bad enough for medical attention to be needed so a tank transport is called to get him back to base for medical attention. The major inciting incident comes when the tank hits an improvised explosive device (IED), which seriously injures Elliott and Sam (Joseph Quinn) Because of the IED, future transports are called off, and it’s up to another platoon led by (Charles Melton) to come to their aid.
Warfare is the type of film where concussive blasts rattle brains and cause concussions. Nobody walks away from explosions in slow-motion and there aren’t any hero moments. Because of this, every single skirmish is stressful because if one of the thousands of bullets fired by the soldiers on either side hits a soldier – it could mean death (this isn’t Commando). The dialogue written by Mendoza and Garland is interesting because it’s mostly radio chatter about enemy movement, and then characters repeat the radio chatter so it can be handwritten into their notebooks – which they are constantly writing in. All of the artifice is stripped down and the 95-minute running time forces it to be supremely focused on warfare (which makes sense considering the title).
Another neat tidbit picked up during the Ray Mendoza Q&A is that the film is dedicated to a platoon member named “Elliott,” who is played by Cosmo Jarvis (watch Shōgun). It’s because of this that Jarvis is given the most to do before his character’s legs are almost blown off. Whether it’s taking a much-needed stretch break after being propped on a table for hours, or making silly faces at D’Pharaoh Won-A-Tai (who is playing Ray Mendoza), Jarvis can show off a little more personality than most of the actors. That being said, the actors give authentic performances and even though they are wearing matching uniforms and helmets, each one of them comes across as an individual with a personality. Also, it’s nice that it’s a mostly young cast because it’s a reminder that the average age of most Navy SEALS is around 27.
The cinematography by longtime Steadicam operator David J. Thompson is fantastic as he moves through the London-based set with fluid movements and a welcome avoidance of shaky cam. His years working on Homicide: Life on the Street, Civil War, Oz, and The Wire, have taught him how to keep things grounded and real. Also, the production design by Mark Digby (Ex Machina, Annihilation, Men) is fantastic as the houses feel suitably solid and the geography of the locations is easy to understand. A special shoutout needs to go out to Ben Barker (Civil War, Men, Devs), Glenn Freemantle (Civil War, Men, Devs), and Mitch Low (Annihilation, Men, Ex Machina) for their sound mixing and editing. The sound mix and design are essentially characters and whether it’s the noise created by a fighter jet creating a “show of force” or the tinnitus created from the concussive blasts – I was constantly wowed by the impressive ways sound is used.
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