[Review] War Machine: Satire Critiques the Military System

First, I'd like to thank Netflix for arranging my early viewing of this film. Netflix has been releasing several original movies almost every month, but War Machine stood out particularly because it's directed by David Michôd (director of the acclaimed Animal Kingdom) and stars Hollywood giants like Brad Pitt, Ben Kingsley, and Tilda Swinton. As it turns out, the film did not disappoint.

Before watching, I had always assumed War Machine would be a comedy. Even after seeing the trailer, I still thought so. However, as I watched, I found that this film wouldn't make you laugh out loud; instead, it's quite a serious and meaningful satirical film. The movie itself is adapted from a book about former U.S. Army General Stanley Allen McChrystal, using fictional characters to replace real people. However, those familiar with this controversial figure will undoubtedly notice that many scenes in the film are almost identical to reality. The film also faithfully uses the journalist from Rolling Stone, a key figure in the real-life events, as the film's narrator, telling the story from his perspective and, through it, expressing his views on the military system.

In fact, the film opens with over ten minutes of narration, introducing the film's background and characters, including General Glen McMahon (played by Brad Pitt) and several of his military personnel with different roles and personalities. Although the film primarily revolves around Glen McMahon, this narration directly introduces the supporting characters, combined with some exaggerated character portrayals and memorable scenes, allowing the audience to generally identify these supporting roles. While War Machine sounds like a war film, its focus is on the military system, governmental power struggles over strategy, the arrogance of military generals, and the moral issues of war. We may have seen many war films in the past, or films about frontline soldiers, but this movie attempts to analyze the entire military system and the meaning of war from the perspective of a military general, which is quite a fresh angle. As for the specific criticisms in the film, I won't elaborate too much in this review to avoid revealing too much of the plot. However, I quite liked the film's insights into the "power" held by military generals and its critique of American military strategy. The film's ending, with its beginning and end echoing each other, also effectively responds to the film's title and its central idea.

While the film's narration certainly helps introduce the background and personalities of various characters to the audience and directly expresses the film's views and criticisms of the military system, it has a significant drawback: it too directly states some themes and messages, relegating the film's plot or visuals to secondary roles and limiting the audience's space for comprehension and reflection. Additionally, I found the film's satirical style to be somewhat underdeveloped; often, the satirical points are reduced to mere comedic moments, remaining too superficial. This misses opportunities to convey themes through more potent satire, making the film less exhilarating than it could have been.

As for the actors, Brad Pitt, as the protagonist, is present for most of the film. His portrayal of a military general in this film reminded me of his performance in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds (2009), but this time it feels a little too deliberately emphasized in terms of physical and facial expressions, making the character appear overly exaggerated and cartoonish. However, in the mid-to-late sections of the film, as the plot and character development progress, Brad Pitt's performance shows noticeable changes and considerable depth. As for the supporting actors, due to the script limiting their scope, their performances aren't particularly outstanding. I only knew Ben Kingsley would be in the film and was surprised to see Tilda Swinton as well. Although their roles don't have much screen time, they still achieve the effects required by the script, delivering decent performances. It's also worth noting that the film unexpectedly features "appearances" by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, which was a delightful surprise (especially the latter)!

In conclusion, War Machine isn't outstanding in its technical aspects or acting performances, but I really appreciate its themes and messages, which are particularly important in this era!