Movie of the Week: "War Machine"

Alexa: “War Machine” is a movie that should work. You’ve got Brad Pitt, a topical story, a promising director. But this thinly-veiled portrait of Stanley McChrystal’s tenure in Afghanistan and the Rolling Stone article that led to his resignation just does not know what it wants to be. It veers back and forth between satire and serious war drama and it’s not particularly adept at either. The strong parts of the movie are very strong, but much of it misses the mark. I understand the choice to use the Rolling Stone journalist’s commentary as a framing device for the narrative, because he does play a pivotal role, but he’s ultimately a relatively minor character, so his input is jarring at times. The movie’s saving grace is its cast. Pitt does an admirable job crafting a sympathetic character despite some questionable choices, and he navigates the story’s humor and drama with ease despite the film’s overall inconsistencies. I would also be remiss if I didn’t take a moment to sing the praises of Lakeith Stanfield, who has rapidly become one of my favorite actors since his breakout role in “Short Term 12” a few years back. Somewhere in this movie lies a brilliant little short film about his Cpl. Billy Cole, who wrestles with confusion about what exactly his role in this war is supposed to be, and whose actions ultimately lead to the death of an innocent civilian. Stanfield is basically in two scenes, and he absolutely kills it in both. That’s the most frustrating thing about “War Machine” - there are elements that indicate so much promise, but nothing can save it from its uneven tone.

Joel: I really want to give this movie a good review. There are pieces of it that really work for me. The cast is the big one. This is a movie that has managed to round up a crew of genuinely great actors and headline the whole thing with a bonafide movie star. This movie is a big get for Netflix and they’re trying to establish their “original movie” lineup. And the idea of a satire about the Afghanistan war is something that at the very least peaks my interest. But when it comes to putting the concept into action, for some reason, the movie isn’t able to make this work. And it comes so frustratingly close. It’s clear that there are great ideas floating around in this movie. And it’s clear that you’ve got a talented creative team that really believes in this movie and really wants it to be something great. But the end product just doesn’t come across as what the idea is promising. There are clearly parts of this movie that are meant to be considered satire. But at the same time I don’t think you can call the movie a satire. There are far too many moments where the drama is there with a very serious tone and meant to be taken as such. In some cases, it feels like the movie wants to be a satire, and that is it’s end goal, but feels to historically close to the events and ideas it’s satirizing, without having these moments of drama to help balance it out. I’m not saying that that this is how I feel, but the way the movie reads, it seems like someone probably felt that way. It seems as though half of the movie is used to round out the edges of the other half and the whole movie ends up suffering for it.

Chris: I agree with pretty much everybody else here when I say Billy Cole was the standout performance in War Machine but sadly, he’s in very few scenes. I will give credit to War Machine for one thing and that’s the juxtaposition of McMahon and Cole and it shows the wide disconnect between those in charge of the war and those that are actually in combat and it’s a whole “right arm doesn’t know what the left arm is doing” scenario. Unfortunately, that disjointed feeling doesn’t stop there and has infected the entire movie and it’s mostly Brad Pitt. The movie can’t seem to decide if it’s drama, biopic, satire or comedy because it’s trying to be a mixture of all four and it just doesn’t work. It can’t go into full dramatic mode because Brad Pitt’s performance is like a bad comedic impression that he’s stuck in. It’s like the direction for Pitt in War Machine was basically have his body do a distasteful John McCain impression while his voice is as if somebody is doing a bad impression of Pitt’s character from Inglorious Basterds. It’s like you’re watching a Cohen Brothers movie mixed with a Kathryn Bigelow movie but with zero percent of the talent of those directors. I suppose that’s the really the summary of this movie: it’s a bunch of bad impressions mixed into one.

Jason: I never have been a big Brad Pitt fan. He has a couple movies that I like, namely “12 Monkeys” and “Interview with The Vampire”. But other than that, I find his performances… not lack-lustre per se. Just not my cup of tea. I also am not a fan of war movies, realistic ones anyway. (I love fantasy war movies.) So “War Machine” falls squarely into a Venn diagram of things I don't really care for. For starters, I was disappointed that this movie wasn't about Iron Man’s sidekick. That would have made for a more interesting story. The story we did get just didn't hold my attention. I think I may have missed a chunk in the middle when I dozed off. Let's talk about the length of this movie for a minute. Was there really any reason it was two whole hours long other than “it's a Netflix original! It can be whatever we want!”? I feel like the same thing could have been done in a 45 minute special and saved me an hour and fifteen.

The two scenes that did convey some real emotion were the only two with Private Cole. His confusion about the war and what they were actually doing there felt genuine and reflects opinions I have heard from real people in my life. His decisive actions at the end led him to exactly what he was anticipating and his emotional devastation was almost unwatchably realistic. Kudos to that guy. Pitt, on the other hand, felt static and emotionless. I guess that was his character? It was a good character, don't get me wrong. In a scene of men who are all dressed the same, have the same haircut, and are built the same, his character stood out because of his bowed, mannequin-esque posture.

Beyond that, I really don't have much to say about this movie. It was a thing...