Alan Ritchson’s ‘War Machine’ Netflix Thriller Breaks Military Action Norms

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Spoilers for War Machine are below!

Netflix’s new action movie stars Alan Ritchson, known from Reacher, as he battles a powerful robot enemy. The film also features a strong supporting cast with Dennis Quaid, Esai Morales, and Jai Courtney. War Machine blends sci-fi elements with traditional military action, bringing to mind films like Predator. However, even though they’re facing an alien threat, Ritchson and his team have a tougher fight than Arnold Schwarzenegger did in Predator.

The film War Machine follows a group of soldiers preparing to become Army Rangers. Their training culminates in a confrontation with a giant robot that has crashed to Earth – a powerful machine built for war. However, despite its action-packed premise, the movie surprisingly avoids many of the typical clichés found in military films.

Military action movies generally follow a familiar formula. Classics like Platoon and Apocalypse Now, as well as newer films such as Warfare, all have certain elements viewers anticipate when watching military combat. This holds true regardless of which military branch is depicted—Army, Navy, or Marines—as these films consistently focus on the look and feel of battle, military strategies, and intense fighting. War Machine provides all of that, but it also adds a unique challenge for its characters, one that isn’t related to the large robots they are fighting.

‘War Machine’s Sci-Fi Threat Hits During a Training Mission

Many military films include scenes of intense training, as seen in movies like Full Metal Jacket and Tigerland. The beginning of War Machine focuses heavily on Army Ranger training, and Ritchson’s character goes through extremely difficult exercises – even nearly drowning – because he refuses to give up. As the number of recruits dwindles, they face a final training mission that sets the stage for the main conflict. They’re sent to locate and destroy a downed aircraft, but instead, they discover an alien robot, which they believe is their target. Their attempt to destroy the robot awakens it, and the deadly machine quickly eliminates several recruits.

Ritchson and his fellow soldiers are forced to flee, relentlessly pursued by the robot after being blasted off a cliff. They’re constantly running for their lives – down mountains, through forests, and across rivers. The robot is far more powerful and agile, leaving them unable to defend themselves. While the movie War Machine feels similar to Predator, those soldiers at least had weapons. Fans of action movies expect soldiers to fight back with everything available – guns, explosives, even a radio – but this team has nothing. They lost their radio in the initial attack, and their only explosives were training materials that had no effect on the robot. Because it was just a training exercise, the soldiers weren’t issued any live ammunition, rendering their rifles useless. They simply can’t shoot back.

The video shows soldiers initially mistaking a robot for a target and opening fire. You can see bright yellow covers on the ends of their rifles, indicating they were using training rounds.

During the movie, the recruits discover an armored vehicle equipped with a machine gun, and one of them, 81, finds a grenade launcher inside, which proves useful in a brief fight. However, for most of the film, the soldiers are largely unarmed. Despite being a war movie with plenty of action, even the final showdown sees 81 defeating the robotic enemy without using a gun.

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The soldiers’ skills and willpower are clearly on display. However, War Machine stands out from typical action movies not by adding explosions, but by removing the ability to fight back. Ritchson’s new film is a strong addition to the genre, offering a fresh perspective on military stories.



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2026-03-09 02:48