War Machine

 A recent science fiction movie that appeared on Netflix, this is actually quite an enjoyable one!

 

And it seems to be setting up for a sequel, which I don't mind at all.

 

Released back in march, the movie follows an unnamed staff sergeant who loses his brother during a Taliban ambush in Afghanistan.  As a promise they made when younger, he joins the RASP to become an Army Ranger, enlisting in the harsh training.

 

He and the recruits that made it through basic training start on the final mission, called a "death march" in which they must locate a downed aircraft.  But during the exercise, they stumble upon a strange crashed vessel, which activates to become a giant robot that hunts them down.  Unarmed, they must get through the jungle to safety, but the recruits, who are unarmed, are easy pickings and one by one they are killed by the machine.  In the end, only he and another recuit (who has been like injured and mishandled as such during the whole movie, I guess that bloke wanted that he was killed in the first contact I guess) make it back, only to learn an alien invasion is on the way.

 

This is just what 90s action movies used to be: pure, heavy metal action without to much morality lessons, and not to much relations and drama.  Just guns blazing of a group of soldiers trying to survive something they don't understand, nor can defeat without going far out of the box.

 

The special effects are well done, and yeah, the movie has some serious gore as the recruits are blasted apart in the most spectacular ways possible.  But at times, that is just fine to watch, no frills, just thrills.

 

A good evening watch for certain!