Alex Garland’s ‘Warfare’ Earns Glowing First Reactions

Last year, I reported about test reactions for “Warfare” and an attendee swore to me that it was, by far, Alex Garland’s best film. They weren’t fans of Garland’s previous efforts, but were shell shocked by how good “Warfare” was.

This week, Garland’s latest, which he co-directed with Ray Mendoza, had special screenings, with military in attendance, taking place in NYC and Los Angeles. An assortment of press was also invited, and the reactions so far are good. You can check them out below. We’ll see what actual critics are saying when the embargo breaks in a couple of weeks.

“Warfare” is being called a “small-scale” movie in terms of production. The film is primarily set in a single location, a house, and features 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 “Black Hawk Down.”

A trailer for “Warfare” was released in December via A24. As mentioned, Garland co-directs with Iraq veteran Mendoza. Mendoza is 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.

“Warfare” is said to be an “extremely intense” film that doesn’t shy away from the violence and gore that comes with war. It’s a “powerful experience.” What Garland and Mendoza seem to have done is take the idea from “Civil War,” about why people senselessly and tribally kill each other, and blow it up into a single, 90-minute action sequence. Relentless, provocative, and powerfully anti-war.

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.

The young cast includes Charles Melton, Will Poulter, Joseph Quinn, Kit Connor, Cosmo Jarvis and D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai. The film is set to hit theaters on April 11.

Garland is coming off “Civil War,” his fourth 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.”