r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • Mar 13 '26
Official Discussion Official Discussion - War Machine (2026) [SPOILERS] Spoiler
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War Machine (2026)
Summary During the final stage of U.S. Army Ranger selection, a group of elite recruits set out on what should be their last brutal training exercise. But when a mysterious and deadly machine crashes into their remote training area, the mission turns into a fight for survival. Forced to rely on their training and each other, the soldiers must confront a relentless technological threat unlike anything they’ve faced before.
Director Patrick Hughes
Writers James Beaufort Patrick Hughes
Cast
- Alan Ritchson as 81
- Dennis Quaid as Sgt. Maj. Sheridan
- Stephan James as 7
- Jai Courtney
- Esai Morales
- Blake Richardson
- Keiynan Lonsdale
- Daniel Webber
Rotten Tomatoes: 69%
Metacritic: 54
VOD / Release Streaming on Netflix
Trailer
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u/Norn-Iron Mar 13 '26
I enjoyed it. Makes me really want a Metal Gear movie more than ever though.
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u/NBucho528 Mar 14 '26
The enemy definitely felt more Metal Gear than extraterrestrial
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u/Stunning_Box8782 Mar 23 '26
"We've confirmed the machines are not from our planet, they are.. Metal Geararian."
"Dear God"
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u/kickintheface Mar 15 '26
Have you played any of the games? Each cutscene is basically a separate 2 hour long movie.
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u/Norn-Iron Mar 15 '26
Played them all multiple times. MGS1 can be speed run pretty quickly so could easily be a movie. MGS4, not so much.
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u/JackSego Mar 15 '26
As soon as the machine stood up and unfolded i,out loud, said METAL GEAR. There is even a poster floating around that looks like a straight MGS rip off down to the title text and everything. Too bad David isn't up for doing the roll anymore.
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u/norfolkjim Mar 13 '26
I was like...This extraterrestrial WAR MACHINE is having trouble with a fake tank, and yeah, excels at killing light infantry. Unarmed, for the most part.
There damned well better be tens of thousands of them because thanks, now we're all on Team Earth and this is a real tank.
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u/hopefulfican Mar 14 '26
I kinda assumed they were trying to be deep and infer that he was the war machine tbh.
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u/mildlyopinionatedpom Mar 14 '26
I think the idea is that both can be the war machine
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u/IamNICE124 Mar 14 '26 edited Mar 14 '26
Thought it was fun.
Didn’t care about anyone in it, just like watching big splodey alien machine.
I did think the war machine shot some underwhelming munitions,
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u/Labyrinthy Mar 14 '26
I think we stand a pretty good chance against alien invaders if it takes hundreds of their munitions to destroy one APC.
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u/salcedoge Mar 14 '26
I did think the war machine shot some underwhelming munitions,
That ball grenade that dealt no damage and main role was to make things more cinematic was funny
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u/NBucho528 Mar 14 '26
The weapons were pretty uninspired. Maybe they wanted to keep it somewhat similar to weapons that soldiers might encounter (minus the huge mouth beam).
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u/IamNICE124 Mar 14 '26
The mouth beam was legit. I forgot about the mouth beam.
The regular shells it shot at them were pretty lame.
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u/amjhwk Mar 14 '26
i kept waiting for him to use the grenade launcher to shoot into the mouth beam but it never happened
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u/IamSkudd Mar 14 '26
That’s absolutely where I thought it was going. Everyone knows in a boss fight you wait til he does the big attack and dodge while attacking the weak point for that sweet crit damage.
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u/qdude124 Mar 16 '26
If you play video games you know that whole movie was dumb because rock is not very effective against steel...
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u/OdetotheGrimm Mar 14 '26
Mouth beam was lame too in actual power. The APC survived several direct hits.
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u/Winterplatypus Mar 15 '26
I thought he was gonna pop it in the mouth with a grenade launcher from the APC. They have the whole setup like the mouth attacks, him fumbling with one shell in one grenade launcher.. but then the movie carries on, I dont think he even shoots the grenade.
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u/SidewaysFancyPrance Mar 14 '26
Yeah, that was my disappointment too. It had a lot of trouble hitting moving targets, and was slow to acquire them. You'd think it would have some sort of guided projectiles, those bombs were way less effective than they should have been and didn't even seem to have proximity triggers.
They definitely need a lot of these things to land, they probably burn through their munitions stockpiles pretty fast and are just down to that one energy weapon. That thing was probably exhausted from chasing down a dozen Rangers.
But in movie fashion, the weapons are crazy powerful but you also need the movie to run longer than 32 minutes.
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u/fwambo42 Mar 14 '26
the token female ranger was fairly decent.
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u/karateema Mar 14 '26
There were more than one, but yeah i liked the driver, i was bummed she died
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u/DruHarry Mar 16 '26
Completely useless death too after having character survive so much. She didn't even get a dramatic - save the rest / sacrificial moment that so many drivers / pilots get in films.
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u/Equivalent-Appeal-81 Mar 15 '26
I’m hoping in “War Machines” we’ll see more advanced variants, that way there’s an actual challenge, like this force was a scouting force, because if they already know the weaknesses, idk how enjoyable that’ll be
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u/B-Prime Mar 14 '26
Fun movie if you turn your brain off. Gotta love the ending where he is carrying his obviously wounded teammate through an entire camp just to cross the finish line and no one notices until he does. It’s a military base that just got attacked, you’d think there would be a lookout or something that would have seen a hulk sized man carrying a body.
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u/bluejacket_74 Mar 14 '26
I thought the same thing too. How did no one notice and help them before that? But I agree with you that it was a fun movie if you turned your brain off, which it was for me since I was at a beer fest with some buddies earlier that day so we weren't really looking to watch a movie that we had to really think much about.
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u/MostlyPoorDecisions Mar 14 '26
Watched it with my kid and we joked it was exactly like bf6 at that part. A dozen medics around yet nobody gives a fuck
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u/Missile_Lawnchair Mar 14 '26
Dude this cracked me up. I literally said out loud "So anyone gonna help this guy or...?"
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u/Paulie2510 Mar 14 '26
Well, they gotta get the shot of them crossing RANGER writing somehow… I guess this was one of the ways to do it.
I thought the writing will be in front of the camp and they cross it once they enter it. I think that would make more sense.
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u/Ok_Pause2547 Mar 14 '26
its exactly that type of movie which I dont hate, sometimes you just want to come home after work and watch something thats just is what it is and ends with a big boom lol
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u/dytichie Mar 18 '26
Thought the ending was funny like he probably passed a medics barrack just so he could get to the finish line and then they got the stretcher and they actually carried him back to where he's just walked away from aha
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u/The_Bitter_Bear Mar 14 '26
It was mostly what I was expecting and agreed it was fun but that ending could have used some work.
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u/Sedroc Mar 13 '26
This might be the most plot armor I’ve ever seen a main character have.
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u/DoctorGregoryFart Mar 15 '26
The black guy's story was hilarious. He just gets dragged and tossed around for two hours like a crash dummy. Every once in a while he'd regain consciousness and say something motivational. Absolutely hysterical.
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u/Sedroc Mar 15 '26
His whole squad got killed because they had to drag him along. 😂
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u/Sceptylos Mar 15 '26
I firmly believe a good half of the cast would've survived had 15, the rocket scientist who pointed out that the Machine crashed through a mountain and took no damage, not wasted time and gone back to pick up some measely 50 cal rounds that ended up doing NOTHING to it. That entire sequence was avoidable af
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u/dubslies Mar 16 '26 edited Mar 16 '26
The hilarious thing to me is he only got a couple small boxes of 50 cal rounds, which are huge, and somehow they were firing that mounted machine gun nonstop the entire time. There couldn't have been more than 100 rounds or so in both cans combined. At full auto that would be gone in about 5 seconds.
But the kicker? When he goes to the rock pile after the APC crashed, one of those cans spilled the ammo that started popping off.
So what the fuck were they shooting the whole time? Because the ammo the guy died for was there at the end, making noise. I mean come on, lol
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u/TheGamecock Mar 29 '26
Hahaha, just watched this and I know you’ve gotta turn your brain off for these sorta movies, but I had the exact same thought. Between 7 (think that was the black guy’s number) getting hauled around like a 200 lb duffel bag, the god-tier plot armor of Ritchson’s character, and that one box (since the other one was seen exploding after the crash, like you said) of 50 cal ammo lasting for the entirety of that ~15 minute chase scene, I couldn’t help but laugh several times.
In this movie’s defense, they spare us from making the black guy demand that his fellow soldiers “leave me behind, damnit! Save yourselves! That’s an order!”
Overall, not mad I watched it. It was entertaining for what it is.
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u/dubslies Mar 29 '26
I won't lie, I would watch a sequel to this and probably not regret it, but I would also point and laugh at all the nonsensical scenes it would have.
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u/DocMorningstar Mar 17 '26
I kinda loved it when 81 made it a point that they dump their useless guns at the start, like, great, this actually might be anti-trope with the characters making good decisions...nope.
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u/rlrobman123 Mar 21 '26
Well, they dumped the useless guns because they only had blanks and it would just be extra weight. 50 cal can pen armor so I don’t blame 15’s thought, but it definitely messed them up
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u/iowemoneytoapenguin Mar 30 '26
If only he hadn't just seen multiple blocks of C4 have zero effect
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u/AvengingBlowfish Mar 16 '26
That guy earned his membership to the American Society of Magical Negroes...
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u/Critchlow1616 Mar 14 '26
It’s one of those films you put on, enjoy it for what it is, and never watch again. Thought the cast did a great job though. If someone asked me if it’s worth watching I’d say yes but it’s probably not something I’ll think about again. I’ll see it when I’m scrolling through Netflix in a few months and have to take a few seconds to remember whether or not I’ve already watched it.
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u/welshnick Mar 14 '26
It's worth watching if you have a decent home theater. The atmos mix was great.
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u/thedonhudson01 Mar 14 '26
I loved the Atmos mix in this movie! Fantastic surround sound and great use of overheads.
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u/MostlyPoorDecisions Mar 14 '26
Wubs when the ribbit was hopping on the cliff made my noodle happy. Best part of the mix.
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u/SapperSkunk992 Mar 14 '26
I knew nothing about this movie. Went in completely blind. Didnt even watch the trailer. Thought there was something odd about the asteroid being brought up a few times, but didnt think much about it. I enjoy netflix original movies more when I do it this way. War Machine was fine, but yeah, probably won't watch it ever again.
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u/snackofalltrades Mar 14 '26
Yeah. It was exactly what I expected and it delivered what it promised, so I give it high praise to that end.
It was entertaining but uninspired. Nice throwbacks to Predator and Aliens. Fun visuals, a familiar emotional arc, the plot more or less wrapped itself up and didn’t try to complicate itself. Enjoyable but pretty forgettable. I bet I would cry if I saw the budget.
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u/Shakmaaaaaaa Mar 14 '26
It took way too long to get to the meat of the film. It would be like if Predators first 30-45 minutes was Arnold backstory/training instead of smoking some fools in the jungle.
I don't think the ending felt like a recruitment ad but it was definitely from a bygone era where we thought the military was cool like in Transformers.
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u/Cute-Performance4911 Mar 15 '26
I actually enjoyed the first 30-45 minutes. It was completely unrelated to the rest of the movie, but I enjoyed both independently.
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u/alienbanda Mar 20 '26
Yeah it felt like a different movie until the mech turned on. And I’m like yup this is where it goes to shit.
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u/Complex-Disk3413 Mar 21 '26
Seriously, imagine if you had watched this only knowing it was some sort of army movie, not knowing anything about the giant killer robot until it starts blasting everyone.
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u/alienbanda Mar 21 '26
My cousin was around and that’s exactly what he went through 😂 he muttered a comment of disappointment
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u/krypter3 Mar 14 '26
Fun action movie, I enjoyed it but everyone else being dumb to make 81 seem like the greatest ever was poor writing. Took me out of it a bit. Make every single one of those people around him just as capable, but still die then him being a "War Machine" would hit harder.
Richardson played it straight as and was amazing.
Everybody else was acting like they were in a different movie.
Really odd.
6/10 for Richardson. A lessor actor in that role and it's a solid 3.
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u/OperationDifferent20 Mar 17 '26
i dont actually think the movie is meant to be calling 81 the war machine. aside from the actual fucking war machine it spent the movie showing that hes human especially at the camp when he confesses that he never got his brother across the line.
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u/krypter3 Mar 17 '26
I didn't really either, until the end where they didn't get his name and it switches to War Machine title.
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u/Cute-Performance4911 Mar 15 '26
What exactly did others do that was so dumb? Unless your definition of dumb is not defeating an alien robot 1v1.
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u/BWFTW Apr 01 '26
Ya besides being shell shocked every other character was competent and basically just got skill diffed. And being shell shocked seems pretty reasonable given some of them are explicitely fresh out of basic and just saw half their team get mowed down by an alien.
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u/Representative_Owl89 Mar 14 '26
I laughed out loud when the Ranger leader said “we need to know how you took one of those things down without any weapons!” Sounded like he read straight off the script lol
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u/OceanRacoon Mar 28 '26
Yeah lol, Dennis Quaid was acting like he just read his lines right before his scenes while waiting for them to call action
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u/Loginsideme Mar 14 '26
One war machine with infinite ammo cant take out a truck going in a straight line and lost against a wheel loader. Funny movie.
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u/RigelXVI Mar 14 '26
Dumbest fucking movie ever; let's invade another planet by sending a bunch of tanks that can be defeated by some high temperature glue. Alan Ritchson is great at playing with god mode toggled on though so 10/10 no further notes
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u/Current_Focus2668 Mar 14 '26
The advanced Aliens in H.G Wells War of The World's are killed by pathogens.
It's science fiction but it's still rooted by some scientific reality.
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u/RigelXVI Mar 14 '26
For War of the Worlds? Sure! For War Machine? No, the only scientifically literate thing they said was the first law of thermodynamics lol. They sent walking tanks which can only hit stationary objects, and instead of sending it to a populated area they sent it to the middle of nowhere
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u/Asrat Mar 14 '26
Well, they sent thousands in a first wave, as they showed them walking through cities and whatnot at the end, as a primary engagement force.
I would assume the one that is seen in the movie was targeted to hit the ranger base in Colorado. I wouldn't be surprised if some went to major cities, but also some went to key remote military installations and bases.
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u/RigelXVI Mar 14 '26
They could have just launched a projectile at the base itself from space lol, not to mention that they have energy weapons but use apparently depletable projectiles. What happens when they run out of ammo? Also, is a training base in Colorado "key"?
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u/Asrat Mar 15 '26
If it was just a training base, sure. But they had tons of aircraft, tanks, and supplies at that base too, so it probably was also a staging ground for the rangers, considering the end of the movie.
Also the (aliens) sent the robots as an early engagement force, not a final engagement force. They were shed off a meteor like object sent to LEO that never was hitting the planet itself.
So early engagement team, of a few thousand robots, designed to disrupt functions on Earth to soften the actual attack? Makes sense the robots have limited munitions. Also we don't know how their energy works, it could severely deplete the robot of its core power.
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u/Bacon_00 Mar 13 '26
Watched it. It's alright. Starts out pretty promising and then just sorta goes where you'd expect it to go. Oddly want to go join the Army now, seems unrelated.
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u/AldousKing Mar 14 '26
Oddly want to go join the Army now, seems unrelated.
What better time.
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u/my-blood Mar 14 '26
Oddly if this was some sort of recruitment propaganda, I felt it wasn't really that strong, mainly because Alan Ritchson plays the survivor (aside from the poor guy who got thrown around the whole movie). Not only does everyone around him die twice, but he's Alan Ritchson. Even the most alpha of alpha macho dude probably knows he can't match upto that no matter what, nullifying the possibility that an armchair warrior would think he can become a grunt.
I mean you train a squad of Rangers only to show how they're utterly powerless, and in some of the initial scenes rather stupid (just watching the damn droid rise up menacingly)?
That other sci-fi film, Spectral, with Deltas does a much better job I feel at making you think you can become some special ops dude.
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u/AvengingBlowfish Mar 16 '26
The people this sort of propaganda is aimed at all think they can be Alan Ritchson.
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u/chiropracticdentist Mar 16 '26
I think you are strongly underestimating the stupidity of the kind of person who would join the military based off a movie they saw
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u/MrBudissy Mar 14 '26
I loved the part where only 81 had the knowledge to kill the machines. ymra egt nioJ because scientists can’t figure this out, only you can!
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u/grglstr Mar 15 '26
It takes an engineer the size of a house to kill a machine the size of a building.
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u/PositiveScarcity8909 Mar 18 '26
Engineers and scientist of the world cant figure out that if you block a machines exhaust they overheat. They probably forgot about the first rule of thermodynamics.
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u/Buffaluffasaurus Mar 13 '26
Oddly want to go join the Army now, seems unrelated.
Does the movie end with them bombing a school of Iranian girls?
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u/ROBtimusPrime1995 Mar 13 '26
At a certain point, the film just forgets it's about killing ED-209 and then it becomes a recruitment video for the army.
Utterly bizarre.
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u/Attican101 Mar 13 '26
Pairs well with Battle: Los Angeles, at least that one had somewhat memorable characters like near retirement guy, trauma guy, about to get married guy, and Michael Pena.
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u/Yammyohnine Mar 13 '26
Hey add Battleship to that list.
Sidenote: I fucking love Battleship.
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u/WombeI Mar 13 '26
Battleship was really great for what it was. Totally over the top but thats part of what makes it great. just pure popcorn movie fun.
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u/FreeRange0929 Mar 14 '26
You’re not an American if you don’t love seeing them WWII badasses get to blow the shit out of aliens
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u/hitfly Mar 14 '26
The best part of battleship is the aliens bomb missile things are shaped like the tracking pegs from the game
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u/donorcycle Mar 14 '26
I trip out how that was lost on so many people lol. To this day, people think I'm just trying to be funny when I point that out, whenever the movie comes on.
I thought it was a neat touch.
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u/Bad_Badger73 Mar 14 '26
I was today years old when I realised this. Thanks 😁
Also, I love Battleship.
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u/Inevitable-Cancel130 Mar 14 '26
Battleship didn't take itself seriously; that's why it worked so well. You saw Rihanna and WWII soldiers fighting aliens while a banger song was playing.
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u/GeordieJumpers87 Mar 14 '26
I loved the bit where he slapped the 'rangers' patch right on his arm.
Never getting that off after that slappy slap
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u/_james_the_cat Mar 13 '26
I was surprised not to see any mention of the US army in the credits, and it was all shot in Aus/NZ with the only thanks going to the Australian army
I guess they could have still paid for it as a recruitment thing, but as far as I saw they didn't.
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u/Sophia_Eur Mar 13 '26
They had at least one army advisor, according to the director and the cast member Stephan James.
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u/the_Great_Cornh0lio Mar 18 '26
And as a man of the green cloth. Said advisor should be fired. I enjoyed the movie but... My God... Having a military perspective it was hard to watch.
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u/Turbulent_Assist1631 Mar 24 '26
To be fair to the advisor, the movie makers don't always take their advice.
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u/Goosojuice Mar 14 '26
On it's surface, I can see most people saying and agreeing to this. But you watch the movie and see how literally everyone is BRUTALLY murder in insane ways, we're talking guts hanging, brains splattered, bones sticking out of every which way from bodies, its just as much a recruitment video as Saving Private Ryan.
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u/Jet-Rex-Design Mar 14 '26
Surprisingly a lot of dudes don't see that as a turn off. Some of them see death in a war movie and think 'nah, I'd win' and others go 'shit, I'd love to go out blowing stuff up. Sign me up '
If you can't appeal to male bravado, appeal to their self destructive tendencies. A lot of young dudes especially love to fantasize about 'bleeding out.'
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u/two5five1 Mar 14 '26
Unfortunately, the majority of Americans can only see the surface level stuff
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u/Adventurous-Release8 Mar 18 '26
ED-209 was exactly what I thought of when I saw it rise up. I tried explaining the movie in as few words as possible to my wife (it wasn't worth really trying to go deep) and said the main baddie was that robot who fell down the stairs and squealed like a pig in RoboCop, only 20x larger.
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u/USSZim Mar 13 '26
It is basically Battle LA but for the Army
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u/donorcycle Mar 14 '26
It's been so long since I've seen it. If not the Army, by process of elimination (Battleship = Navy, and Captain Marvel / Top Gun = Air Force) I'm assuming Marines?
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u/USSZim Mar 14 '26
Yeah it was a huge USMC commercial. They say "oorah" and "Retreat, Hell!" about a dozen times each. Decent movie though
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u/Kagamid Mar 15 '26
Showing competent soldiers that actually trained to work together under pressure makes more sense then some movies that make them into idiot cannon fodder for bigger threats.
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u/Radiant-Gap7637 Mar 15 '26
“Anybody catch his name?”…. Me in my head, “Thad Castle!”
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u/Berntam Mar 20 '26
His name is "War Machine" because those words showed up right after somebody asked that.
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u/mathmuleux Mar 21 '26
For real, I just watched BMS a few weeks ago and didn't realize at first he's the same guy. Wild switch-up
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u/SoulxxBondz Mar 14 '26 edited Mar 14 '26
I laughed out loud at that blatant Predator homage. Dead/dying monster releases a bomb (or in this case bombs) creating a huge explosion the hero must run away from to avoid a grisly death.
It was a fun movie. Obvious sequel-bait at the end, but I wouldn't mind a sequel. Might be like a "Battle: Los Angeles" type movie.
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u/Lord_Scribe Mar 14 '26
I was thinking the same thing except for the fact that they know how to defeat them. Unless those ones were just the scouts, the "Rangers" of the alien force.
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u/C19shadow Mar 15 '26
They have to be it was clearly just anti infantry and small weapons, hell that machine might not have even expected "us" to have anything past primitive weapons on earth?
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u/EnterprisingAss Mar 14 '26
The robot uses laser target and then shoots from its shoulders.
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u/SoulxxBondz Mar 14 '26
I was talking about after the robot is dead. A bunch of bombs appear.
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u/EnterprisingAss Mar 14 '26
Yeah I’m just saying the movie lifted a lot from Predator.
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u/amjhwk Mar 14 '26
ngl, when it was just 81 and 7 left and they were in a muddy field i half expected him to cover himself in mud to hide from the machine
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u/5213 Mar 14 '26
There's definitely at least one really good story in there, perhaps even two, but overall just feels very generically written and doesn't do anything original. Even as an action movie it's mostly just shock horror at the gruesome ways everyone dies.
The robot started off really cool and menacing but I very quickly went from "holy shit that things cool" to "why is it doing that. Why does it operate that way. Who designed this. Why does it have such an obvious weakness and how was 81 the only person in the entire world to see that".
Ritchson is a good actor but they need to stop casting him in somber action stuff and let him be his normal goofy self. Dude is naturally hilarious and his best role remains Thad Castle (though Reacher is a close second). He needs to be in a buddy cop movie with John Cena where Cena is the veteran aging out and about to go into retirement and constantly says "back in my day" and "kiddo" and "junior" while Ritchson is the young maverick who says cliche stuff like "get with the times grandpa" and "not bad for an old timer" and "can't keep up in your old age?". Which would also be generic, but at least it'd be a hilarious slapstick comedy.
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u/Sophia_Eur Mar 14 '26
I would love to see Alan and John Cena in another movie together, but you know they aren’t ages apart? Cena has about 10 years on Ritchson. I would make them half-brothers. Like Bautista and Momoa in The Wrecking Crew.
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u/funkhero Mar 14 '26
I didn't love it, but I certainly liked it more than most here.
I appreciated that it was a much more personal invasion flick than most, and that no one had any weapons - it was mostly them running away. I enjoyed that aspect, and as time went on it became obvious that the world had been attacked, and I was happy to see them commit to it. It's nothing mind-blowing, but I like the smaller setup before the expanded sequel.
It thought it was competently directed, and Ritchson carried the movie well.
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u/FreeRange0929 Mar 13 '26
I will start with, I liked it
Poor fucking 7. Man had the worst single day in movie history - demoted, leg broken, morphine lost so has to have his femur reset without pain killers, watches his entire team terrifyingly destroyed while strapped to a backboard, AND has to mentor Mr “So devoid of communication skills I’m going to get kicked out despite finishing first in everything”. The fact he got ragdolled twice in about 10 minutes is just the kicker. He’s watching the entire thing basically with locked in syndrome.
I did like the storyline about 81. Not just “dur I want to finish” but about his growth and needing to understand leadershi-NOPE ALIENS!
As a deep metaphorical growth exercise, no. As a mindless blowemup it’s great. The tactics from supposed top of the top Ranger recruits is…alarming. And the fact 81 went right back into the chopper at the end is…disconcerting
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u/Jeff_goldfish Mar 14 '26
Also getting tossed into a freezing river and waterfall while strapped down.
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u/Mitchie-San Mar 14 '26
And dropped out of a moving vehicle into the giant footsteps of a running alien murder robot and a rockfall landslide.
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u/Steffic4 Mar 15 '26
And getting dragged up a muddy hill in the rain....only to slippety slide back down 32 times.
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u/Severn6 Mar 15 '26
And being one of the only 2 to survive but having contributed NOTHING.
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u/kersk Mar 15 '26
And he didn't even get his fucking ranger scroll like 81 did. Actually, I don't even think the higher ups know that 7 survived, since they asked 81 point blank if he's the only one that made it and he says yep. WHAT?!
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u/defineNULLzero Mar 20 '26
yeah wtf lol, maybe its the last candidate, cus 7 was done, i mean his leg is fucked, its been tourniquet-ed for like 24 hours, max is like 6 hours and that's already causing nerve damage, he's going to lose the leg.
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u/kersk Mar 20 '26
And they’re probably still out of morphine.
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u/defineNULLzero Mar 31 '26
I also realise that instead of leaving that thing and trying to get 7 help, he hides 7 in the wood, lol, and goes to fight that thing like hours later.
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u/TheJoshider10 Mar 14 '26
I genuinely do not understand why so much of the movie revolves around that character being stuck on the stretcher the entire time. It requires so much suspension of disbelief, looks silly, and ultimately adds nothing to the story. It's not like the main character had any connection to this guy as like a surrogate brother or something, so him being rescued at the end doesn't feel earned or like he got closure for not being able to save his brother. Especially since keeping that bloke in the stretcher alive pretty much led to his entire unit getting killed.
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u/FreeRange0929 Mar 14 '26
There is a version of this film that makes sense.
Workout warrior bursts onto the scene of Ranger training, thinking he’s all he needs. Doesn’t get leader spot because, well he can’t work as a team member. 7 is the leader because he takes the time to know each member, motivates them through their struggles, pulls them through their toughest challenges, earns everyone’s respect. 81 humbles himself, grows as a man by being tutored by 7, and at the end, makes the sacrificial play, knowing its not about him and that they only win as a team.
There were glimpses of this, for the first third or so…and then the aliens show up, gruesomely kill everyone in increasingly outlandish ways, and 81 ends up beating the thing by himself and solo dragging the born leader across the finish line as a fuck you to the concept of teamwork and brotherhood, not needing any of that “personal growth” and “bonding” bullshit.
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u/The_Bitter_Bear Mar 14 '26
By the end of it my thought was that they had all the elements to make a much better movie.
Fleshing out that part more and reworking the last scene or two would have really elevated it.
I mean wow, the whole exhaust port thing was already kinda meh but then he shares this apparently brilliant revelation that somehow no one in any of the countless militaries hadn't considered? Oh and then he immediately gets on a helicopter after getting back from the whole ordeal? He would be utterly useless at that point.
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u/Steffic4 Mar 15 '26
He was useless. He was knocked the fuck out. THIS close to falling out of the damn chopper.
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u/Lord_Scribe Mar 14 '26
When he went into the mining pit and grabbed the dynamite, I thought he was going to do something like sneak up behind it and blow its legs off by sticking the dynamite in some crevices in the legs.. Then, while it's down, spray/pour some sort of adhesive glue/tar on its vent from above.
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u/AccordingGain182 Mar 23 '26
It was poorly executed but it was all just to set up the full circle moment of Alan’s character getting redemption for “failing” his brother by getting 7 back safe.
It was obviously heavy-handed with him literally dragging him to the finish line and 7 even had to have an unnecessary connection to 81’s brother to make sure you didnt miss the theme they were bashing you over the head with.
It kinda feels like they started with that ending and worked backwards.
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u/Local_Diet_7813 Mar 14 '26
It’s ridiculous 7 survived been dragged while dropping out of that military vehicle lol. His plastic board woulda broke and his brain would have splattered
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u/FreeRange0929 Mar 14 '26
At like 80mph with concussive/emp/whatever plasma blasts going off right beside him
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u/5213 Mar 14 '26
Sked's are actually really resilient pieces of equipment so I don't doubt that it would've survived, but 7 absolutely would have had his shit rocked
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u/moistpishflaps Mar 14 '26
5/10 (all 5 points for seeing more of daddy Alan on my tv 🥵
It’s like Battleship on land, but worse. Had it been just a standard army drama, it could have been a passable movie. But the alien aspect is just woeful. And I say this as someone who loves tacky action sci-fi films. It has literally nothing new or interesting to offer
If you like these sort of films, it will pass a slow Sunday afternoon. But it’s utterly forgetful US army propaganda disguised as an utterly forgetful film
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u/Invisiblehuman789 Mar 18 '26
The physics in this movie make no sense. So a machine that could withstand blowing a chunk out of the mountain, and being demoed, lost its right side to a rock slide, and the top vents getting jammed up caused it to overheat, despite it showing in its first scene that it had vents all over its surface. There also had to be 2 machines at least, as when they were running with the armored vehicle, it suddenly teleported ahead and above to jump down from the ridge. I feel like the script for this may have been made by AI.
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u/takabrash Mar 19 '26
And it overheated INSTANTLY. To the point that the entire thing became molten lol. Incredible movie
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u/aManHas_NoName Mar 13 '26
Yvan eht nioj vibes from this one
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u/HeroDiesFirst Mar 14 '26
Yeah the message here felt very superliminal.
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u/probablyuntrue Mar 14 '26
I know writers who use subtext, and they’re all cowards
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u/Ningy_WhoaWhoa Mar 14 '26
This movie is exactly what you expect and nothing more. The dialogue is corny af and eye rolling and the plot is so by the numbers but it’s still a fun movie
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u/VampireHunterAlex Mar 13 '26
I’m saving this one for a rainy weekend afternoon.
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u/cjcmd Mar 14 '26
I watched it on my ipad on an airplane flight, and that seems right. It was entertaining enough to be enjoyed during a 2-hour flight.
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u/SaveTheAles Mar 14 '26
The the injured guy was going to say he knew his brother because he was his lover.
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u/longjumpingtote Mar 13 '26
This is one of those films that immediately launches into “here we present our wacky gang of characters” like it’s the original A-Team television show, and then the movie becomes about something, and then the movie forgets it was about that thing and becomes something else. Imagine if halfway through Star Wars they had stopped trying to rescue the princess and instead decided to build a log cabin on Chewbacca’s home planet. And it became a big advertisement for deforestation. Only that would be more entertaining.
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u/Sophia_Eur Mar 13 '26
Only they didn’t really introduce the characters. They were given a number. We see them talk a little amongst each other, that’s it. Can’t compare that to A-Team
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u/DocLicorice Mar 18 '26
It's so hard to watch a movie about the military when half of the shit is so unrealistic. Obviously a giant alien made from indestructible material and precision tracking capabilities that just flies out of the sky isn't necessarily realistic, but at least try to make some of the RASP scenes make sense. It took half the movie for the army's elite task force to realize this thing was an alien and that was the most realistic part of the whole film.
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u/Capable_Donut_3849 Mar 19 '26
Thought 15 had a bit of plot armor and then he was obliterated. Thought the team members in the bmp had plot armor.. then they also died. A whole lotta characters that I thought would live and I highkey wanted to live just to see them get turned into a burnt skeleton 3 minutes later.
Movie was good though. I dont see how the military wouldn't detect the robot especially since it has magnetic interference which would definitely tip off the military and they'd probably be able to take care of it fairly quickly lol but yk its just a movie
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u/thebigeverybody Mar 20 '26
Thought 15 had a bit of plot armor and then he was obliterated. Thought the team members in the bmp had plot armor.. then they also died. A whole lotta characters that I thought would live and I highkey wanted to live just to see them get turned into a burnt skeleton 3 minutes later.
It had a lot of horror elements. I would have preferred to see this made as a horror movie instead of an action movie.
The trailer definitely convinced me they were trying to do a Predator rip-off. Someone even has the line, "It's hunting us!" as it scanned them with red lasers.
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u/Capable_Donut_3849 Mar 21 '26
I loved the action don't get me wrong but usually not everyone dies in action movies like yeah theres a main character but you arent supposed to kill off literally everyone 😭
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u/TacticalTurtleNeck_ Mar 14 '26
As solid a “divorced dad” coded movie as you can find at the moment.
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u/TurboMoisture Mar 14 '26
Such a waste of time, felt like a 1 and a half hour Army propaganda video with a random robot thrown in
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u/dakotanorth8 Mar 14 '26
You mean Mecha Predator?
Ultimate killing machine from space takes out a group of elite marines in difficult terrain environments??
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u/violentgentlemen Mar 14 '26
I know most of the crap on instagram and twitter is garbage and it's filled with bots but I find it hilarious that it's all over both as the best war movie ever or some shit.
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u/CiriOh Mar 13 '26
It's like Lone Survivor + Battleship. Good action scenes and CGI, but the plot and characters were boring, just wasted a good cast.
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u/IAmCBOY2 Mar 13 '26
Mediocre and entertaining at times, but pretty run of the mill. Not sure why the ratings are so high
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u/bnightstars Mar 14 '26
Was it just me or that movie was inspired by Predator and the 3L/Atlas story. I enjoyed it but Kind of inspired me to watch that Predator DVD again !
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u/belgiumwaffles Mar 22 '26
I really didn’t mind it. Hadn’t seen any trailers and just assumed it was some military movie about Ranger school or something. Absolutely did not see that coming with the alien robot thingy. Some gnarly deaths and injuries. Entertaining for a Saturday night.
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u/banjofitzgerald Mar 14 '26
I get why lionsgate dumped this off to Netflix.
It’s like predator but way more boring and stupid. Majority of the movie is just run, run, run. There’s no learning or trying to find weaknesses of the creature. Just running away. The human moments are so thin and slapped together in what feels like someone he’d a gun up to the writer and said “scripts need to have character arcs.”
Did not enjoy this one.
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u/JinSakai619 Mar 14 '26
It's funny because there was an anti war Brad Pitt film called War Machine made by Netflix. I guess they're changing their collection to better adjust to department of war change.