A24 and Alex Garland's ‘Warfare' Test Screens ...

Alex Garland is “co-directing” “Warfare” with Iraq veteran Ray Mendoza. Judging by his past work, Mendoza is also a war expert having collaborated with the History Channel as a producer on the documentary series “The Warfighters.” His IMDb doesn’t show any directing credits to his name, so this film with Garland is technically his feature directing debut.

There was a test screening of A24 and Garland’s “Warfare.” It sounds like the action takes place in a single location, and is all about the visceral nature of war. A source who attended the screening says the film is “excellent.”

Extremely intense watch with a decent number of walkouts when the violence and gore became too much, so not for the faint of heart. But it’s a very powerful experience. Cinematically overwhelming. It kind of takes the idea in “Civil War” about why people senselessly and tribally kill each other and blows it up into a single, 90-minute action sequence. Relentless, provocative, powerful anti-war film. Another home run from Garland.

The film takes place in “real time” but it’s not like a ticking clock movie. It’s a true story about a troop of American soldiers, in an undisclosed mission during the Iraq War, finding themselves trapped in a firefight without support.

“Warfare” is being called a “small-scale” movie in terms of production. Pretty much all taking place in a single location, a house, and featuring a small 20-something person ensemble of soldiers. It’s not character-driven, and much more about the experience of war, rather than having character arcs, similar to “Dunkirk.”

There’s very realistic combat-staging and writing. All of the actors in the ensemble are stellar and no one is meant to stand out, but if there’s one performance that seems worthy of acknowledgment then it’s Charles Melton’s who is said to have a commanding screen presence.

Melton is coming off his critically lauded performance in last year’s “May December” which many believe deserved an Oscar nod in the Supporting Actor category. The rest of the cast includes Will Poulter, Joseph Quinn, Kit Connor, Cosmo Jarvis and D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai.

Garland is coming off “Civil War,” his fifth collaboration with A24 — the most expensive A24 film had ever produced up to that point, with a budget of around $50 million. Spurred by strong reviews, the film ended up earning $126M worldwide, and is the second highest grossing film in A24 history.

Garland’s other credits include “Ex-Machina,” “Annihilation,” “Dredd” and “Men.” He’s also the screenwriter behind “28 Days Later,” “Sunshine,” and “Never Let Me Go.”