In 2017 there was a straight-to-Netflix movie called WAR MACHINE, a satire about the war in Afghanistan. I was interested because it was from director David Michôd (ANIMAL KINGDOM, THE ROVER, later CHRISTY), but I still haven’t gotten around to it because it went straight to Netflix, it didn’t seem like a real movie, and I forgot it existed.

Now there’s a 2026 straight-to-Netflix movie also called WAR MACHINE, but it’s about Reacher (Alan Ritchson) fighting a robot. This one also went straight to Netflix, also doesn’t seem like a real movie, so I threw it on casually. Times change I guess.

It starts in Kandahar. They finally ended the war in Afghanistan, but it lives on in the traumatic-incident-flashbacks that open all military-based action movies. Ritchson (DARK WEB: CICADA 3301) plays an unnamed Staff Sergeant with a background in engineering who comes to fix an engine for a stranded convoy. He confronts the person responsible for the engine troubles, played by Jai Courtney (DANGEROUS ANIMALS), in that move where two characters come at each other like they’re angry but then it’s a joke and they’re old pals, or in this case actual brothers. I’ve been thinking of that trope as “the Lando,” but here it sort of serves as a “Dillon you sonofabitch,” because this movie exists very clearly in the shadow of PREDATOR.

Right after Courtney convinces big brother RItchson that they should enter the RASP (Ranger Assessment and Selection Program) together they get ambushed and only Ritchson survives. In content this is a completely generic prologue, but I will note that the interactions between the brothers are effective, it’s got a pretty cool look to it (director of photography: Aaaron Morton, EVIL DEAD 2013, SPONTANEOUS, THE FIRST OMEN) and the aftermath of the battle is memorably gruesome. So it works for me.

Two years later he goes through with entering RASP. They give him the number 81, which is the only name we ever get for him. His goal is just to pass the grueling, G.I.-JANE-style trials because he promised his brother and/or to prove something to himself. He’s very gruff and stubborn, won’t talk to anybody, even mostly ignores the one nice guy, 7 (Stephan James, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK) after 7 implies he knew his brother. He sits alone in the mess hall, hears them whispering about oh shit, that’s that guy. There’s a good moment when a drill sergeant is asking trainees about their deployments and belittling them but when 81 says who he was with the sergeant has no comeback. Just treats him with respect.

Through many montages of many rounds of competition, the candidates dwindle, but 81 remains. Sergeant Major Sheridan (Dennis Quaid, FOOTLOOSE 2011, GI JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA) knows 81 is, incredible but “a liability” because he’s “not bonding” with the others and turns down being a team leader. Finally there’s a round where he stays underwater longer than everyone else but nearly dies doing it, which seems to me a completely legitimate reason to eject him, but Sheridan and First Sergeant Torres (Esai Morales, SUPERFLY 2018, IN THE ARMY NOW) just use it as an opportunity to ask him to drop out. They couldn’t know he was having flashbacks to when he tried to carry his brother back to the base and collapsed, or that he took the message of he and his brother’s matching “DFQ” (don’t fucking quit) tattoos too literally, but they correctly say he needs to get help for his PTSD. But he’d rather not. So all they can think to do is make him the team leader for the final trial, a war game that will decide whether they become Rangers or not.

They’re flown out to the woods by helicopter. The exercise simulates finding a downed experimental aircraft, destroying it and bringing the pilot back safely. The trainees are surprised by the “special effects” of the aircraft they find because it looks like something from space. And of course it is. Their little explosives don’t dent it, just wake it up, it comes after them like a Robot Jock. I like that they don’t immediately jump to “this is a robot from space,” but don’t take too very long to realize that’s more reasonable than any other explanation.

You can’t really miss the PREDATOR template: elite military squad trying to do one thing accidentally encounter an inexplicable and technologically superior alien force out in the middle of nowhere and have to stop it. In both cases the lead is a cartoonish muscle beast and the finale shows him flying from the explosion caused by the alien self-destructing. But there are plenty of details to distinguish it as its own thing. They don’t have real weapons at first, since it’s an exercise. Instead of stealthy and invisible the thing is huge and lumbering. There are different types of action, including a chaotic car chase, a precarious rope climb and a pretty great part where they roll down a steep hill and get totally fucked up. Most importantly, 81’s character motivation that has nothing to do with the alien is central to the story. He might’ve learned the same lesson just from the simulation. Maybe not though.

For me all these things distance it enough from PREDATOR to not feel like a pointless rehash. Unfortunately they also add up to a perspective I respect less than PREDATOR’s. WAR MACHINE differentiates itself by trying to be a little more grounded – I’m sure war-geeks could nitpick the shit out of it, but to the casual observer it seems to be trying to portray a more true-to-life military experience and less comic booky characters than PREDATOR’s; it’s set in the United States, not Val Verde. But PREDATOR’s exaggeration was making a point that’s part of the movie’s greatness. They have the biggest muscles, the biggest guns, the most bullets, their bodies can’t even process all the machismo they contain, it has to pour out of them as sweat. But all that swagger and firepower is useless here. Dutch has to strip it all off and cover himself in mud to beat the Predator.

Not that 81’s journey is entirely different. His team gains weapons that don’t help that much, he uses equipment from a quarry to defeat the robot but it’s supposed to be his engineer brain figuring out how to make machinery malfunction. The difference is that while PREDATOR’s story ultimately dismantles the attitudes the characters have been taught, WAR MACHINE validates them. The personal journey of forgiving himself for his brother’s death is a stepping stone to proving he can be a leader and recommitting himself to the military he was ready to leave. He just wanted to get over the finish line, but the brass were right when they told him it was the starting line.

Of course I support the cause of 81 defending the world from a robot invasion. But this movie has the bad luck to be released during a worst case scenario when all the real life war machines are dutifully using their elite skills to blow up schools for an insane child rapist starting wars he can’t even explain. Not ideal! So I can’t really swallow this type of rah rah shit without it catching in my throat a little. Ritchson is not a these-colors-don’t-run motherfucker, and director Patrick Hughes is Australian, but they seem to be really into the military valor stuff right now, because their next movie is a biopic of a Medal of Honor winner and founding member of SEAL Team Six. It’s a problem with being an action star – even the best of them start idolizing all these soldiers and cops they do their training with. As someone who still loves the genre I feel it’s my duty to discuss it.

One of 81’s heroic feats is carrying an injured 7 back to base like he tried to do with his brother. It reminded me of one of the best military movies I’ve seen in recent years, GUY RITCHIE’S THE COVENANT, about an Afghan interpreter who similarly saves an American soldier, only to be left high and dry by the U.S. government. Ritchie was calling attention to the travesty of the U.S. not standing by their commitment to some of the Afghans who helped them, but now it’s actually much worse because some of those we did help are now being terrorized by Trump goons. Here’s one who got abducted by ICE and died in their custody. So I just want to say that anyone who loves these types of movies because they’re moved by the heroism in war time, I hope they will join me in demanding that every single person involved with that shit from Trump down to the arresting officers pay severely. Otherwise you don’t really care about the honor and courage and shit. You just like guns.

Setting all that aside, WAR MACHINE is passable entertainment, and a decent showcase for Ritchson’s talents, even though it’s silly to have a guy work so hard to be that big and then just pile a bunch of tactical bullshit all over him. Another reason why our militarism is self-defeating – it even makes our movies ugly.

The effects are pretty good, the robot is pretty cool. And the inclusion of Courtney is very effective. I like that he’s at a point where he can have a cameo in a movie and it’s exciting. It’s fun and makes sense to briefly see these two as knucklehead brothers, and you see their connection and feel the loss when he’s gone. If it had been some rando playing the brother it genuinely wouldn’t have the same weight. He’s around long enough for me to say “oh shit, it’s Jai Courtney” and not long enough for me to think “oh shit, Jai Courtney was in JACK REACHER and now he’s in a movie with Reacher.” I had to do that later.

81’s last discussion with his brother and his failure to save him are the primary motivations for the whole movie, so every time it comes up I think “oh yeah, Jai Courtney” and not “oh jesus, not the damn brother again.” And there’s a moment when 81 collapses, then hears Jai Courtney’s voice and gets up again, and I am 99.99999% sure it was inspired by the moment in CREED when Adonis falls and then there’s that flash of Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers, PREDATOR) inspiring him to get back up. Except it’s Jai Courtney instead of Carl Weathers. And this one didn’t give me goosebumps. But I liked it.

Another sign that this is Australian is that WOLF CREEK director Greg McLean is credited as a producer. He only seems to direct TV these days. I’d like to see more movies from him.

Director Hughes is also credited with the story and co-writing the screenplay with James Beaufort (the Red Ranger on Power Rangers Operation Overdrive). Long ago I had hopes for THE EXPENDABLES 3 because I’d enjoyed Hughes’ debut, RED HILL. Oh well. Since then he’s done the two HITMAN’S BODYGUARD movies and THE MAN FROM TORONTO, which was going to be a Statham movie but he got replaced with Woody Harrelson. I have avoided it so far. WAR MACHINE is a movie I will forget quickly but it’s at least solid enough to raise my expectations a little next time I see his name on something. According to IMDb that might be a sequel called WAR MACHINES. (Don’t make the WAR MACHINE$ joke because it’s Netflix, it won’t make a single cent.) I don’t really see how Unnamed Soldier #81 fighting off a world wide invasion would be fun, so hopefully it would focus on one confined situation, preferably where he and a robot are forced to work together and discover their commonality as war machines.