Movies of War

War Machine. (L-R) Stephan James as 7, Alan Ritchson as 81 and Alex King as 44 in War Machine. Cr. Ben King/Netflix © 2026. It just goes to show how influential a movie like Predator (1987) is—we’re still getting imitations all these years later. Reinforcing it as the benchmark for all “soldiers versus monster” stories is a crowd of copycats that can never quite measure up, or understand what made Predator stand out. That is certainly the case with Patrick Hughes’ War Machine. This new clash between military brawn and extraterrestrial precision gets points for simply going bigger with its alien antagonist, but nearly everything else in this movie is underwhelming. Throwing characters straight into a hairy situation without blatantly setting up their personal journey is becoming a rare sight these days. War Machine definitely doesn’t avoid the ever-present trend of stacking traumas, seeing as how Alan Ritchson’s character here, who later goes by the designation of “81”, is acting on—you guessed it—unresolved trauma. Scoot past the harsh outset, and 81 is now found working out his feelings at a special ops boot camp. Perhaps more interesting would have been starting the movie right then and there, and figuring out why this hulking soldier is so guarded and antisocial. Instead, we know right from the beginning why 81 is emotionally constipated and why he’s humiliating his fellow recruits in the obstacles. This foreknowledge only makes the story beats, not to mention the outcome, all the more predictable. War Machine. (L-R) Jai Courtney as Squad Leader and Alan Ritchson as 81 in War Machine. Cr. Ben King/Netflix © 2026. Now, if you signed up for something with more energy, then you might leave a bit disappointed. The movie is too realistically designed to ever really cut loose. That said, once you’re past the perfunctory first act, War Machine enters the more potentially satisfying arc of its invasion story. 81 and his less-competent comrades are eventually caught off guard by a colossal murder tank from outer space, one that’s been sent to wipe out humanity in and around these parts. That ensuing manslaughter occurs in spurts because Hughes, as both the director and co-writer, at least has the good decency to not bore us with a monotonous row of set-pieces. There are these cool-down scenes that help to balance everything out and make the few action-heavy sequences here a little worthwhile. Ultimately, staying true to that grounded approach takes the steam out of the battles. Or rather, the direction. The encounters feel more flat than you want them to be, and treating the opponent as a mechanized entity essentially saps those fights of their energy. The sheer size of this invader is daunting, but after a while, that enormity isn’t enough to make up for its absence of character. Indeed, it’s just a machine we have here, and not a very interesting one at that. War Machine. (L-R) Alan Ritchson as 81 and Stephan James as 7 in War Machine. Cr. Ben King/Netflix © 2026. Had it not been for the coda, the rest of the movie is almost forgivable. Memorable? Not in the least, but nothing egregiously bad. Just middle-of-the-road stuff, as far as expensive, modern B-movies go. Once again, though, it’s like War Machine needed to spoon-feed and not allow us to infer things. Tacking on a second ending, when the first one was fine, reeks of padding and babying. Maybe it felt necessary for those who weren’t paying attention. War Machine doesn’t have to be the next Predator, but surely it could have been more entertaining. In this current form, it’s bordering on lifeless and takes itself too seriously. So much so that even the vulnerable moments don’t hit as well as they should. Adding insult to injury, the movie is also a dull vehicle for Ritchson. Putting him in a role that strips him of his natural charm and makes him interchangeable with any basic soldier-type actor is a weird choice. The Ritchson we saw in the opening scene—now that would have been a great human foe for the alien. Instead, though, we’re left with that figurative rendering of the movie’s title. A parallel that another character is sure to point out, in case we didn’t already deduce that bit ourselves. War Machine streams on Netflix starting on March 6. Poster for War Machine. Related Topics:Alan RitchsonDennis QuaidPatrick HughesStephan JamesWar Machine Paul Lê Paul Lê is a Texas-based, Tomato approved critic at Bloody Disgusting, Dread Central, and Tales from the Paulside. 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