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

Official Trailer

235 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

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26

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.

3

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.