(Mikael Håfström, 2021, USA)
War has gone robotic in the latest Netflix original film, set only 15 years from now yet somehow featuring fully automated mechanical soldiers (nicknamed Gumps, for some reason that is never made clear) and an experimental android cosplaying as a military officer (and played by Anthony Mackie) involved in a terrifyingly plausible Ukrainian civil war. Drone pilot Harp (Damson Idris) is sent to this futuristic conflict, as punishment for a friendly-fire incident that killed two American soldiers; reassigned to Mackie’s Captain Leo, Harp experiences on-the-ground combat for the first time in an ostensible mission to deliver vaccines to a refugee camp beyond enemy lines (hence the film’s unimaginative title). Of course, there’s a little more to it than that, but the plot seems little more than an excuse to showcase Mackie’s super-soldier performing superhuman stunts, with only a few heady sci-fi notions thrown in, as a treat.
Perhaps aware of how derivative the sub-genre has become, the film does buck convention in a couple ways, mostly notably by having Mackie act less robotic and more like, well, himself. Putting aside whether this is a comment on Mackie’s acting range (or lack thereof), it is quite unusual to see an artificial intelligence (though the android itself refuses this description) swearing like a Scorsese character and making obscene references – which begs the question of just why it needs to be artificial at all. A mid-film plot twist does make it clear the script has more on its mind, but so much of this is still so derivative, visually if not narratively, referencing everything from Terminator 2 to I, Robot to even Mackie’s prior sci-fi roles in Altered Carbon and the Captain America franchise. It’s a shame that the film can’t do more with its concept, but then it doesn’t seem really interested in becoming anything beyond Call of Duty: Future Warfare.
Similarly disappointing is the film’s stance on combat in general, for at one point it seems like it might actually take an anti-war stance – a boldly progressive position for a mainstream action flick – only to ultimately villainize the anti-militaristic viewpoint and become just another piece of U.S. Army propaganda. It’s discouraging but not exactly shocking that the film valourizes war and conflict – the protagonist is a drone pilot after all, and the American military likely supported the movie in the same manner as they did Mackie’s MCU entries – but it’s still shameful that the filmmakers can be so lacking in self-awareness. Like most war pictures, it purports to be anti-war in name only, invoking collateral damage and other atrocities whilst making the action so thrilling as to be entertaining.
In that sense, the film’s primary genre is not so much war or science fiction as action, and in this regard, at least, it succeeds, if only on a superficial level. The stunt work is impressive in the same manner as previous Netflix actioners Extraction and The Old Guard, likely enhanced by CGI yet still stirring in its practical choreography. A significant action sequence sees Mackie’s android take on no less than 10 opponents single-handedly, and though it may not be so differently staged from a bloodless Marvel equivalent, there’s still something primally satisfying about an R-rated fight scene. Perhaps I’m part of the problem, then, but if the action were divorced from all ethics and politics I probably would’ve enjoyed the film more; unfortunately, this is a solid action flick that also tries to be a treatise on the use of technology in wartime, and it’s simply not smart enough to do both.
Cinema Charchuk 