Warfare

Perhaps the most effective way to convey that war is hell is to dump all the metaphors, story beats and shoehorned character development and just put the viewer in it, which this film accomplishes in a way very rarely seen in narrative cinema.

They won't be showing this one at recruitment centers.

There is no doubt that Warfare is, to this civilian’s eyes and rattled ears, the most effective any film has been at not only communicating but sharing the mental state of soldiers in warfare.

This is a formidable technical showcase and obsessive forensic recreation whose imposed formal limitations become meaning-making ends in and of themselves.

It is remarkably nonjudgmental, presenting an incident that is neither moral nor amoral, but truthful and awful.

"Warfare" is a film that wants to be felt more than interpreted, but it doesn't make any sense to me as an invitation -- only as a warning created from the wounds of a memory.

The apolitical film offers no anti-war sentiments.

The wide array of teamwork on display is downright inspiring to watch, with no glorious glows of assistive hero worship.

The sound editing and subjective POVs are adroitly effective and the ensemble gives gritty goes from top to bottom

For most moviegoers, though, Warfare will eventually inevitably blur together with memories of other war features.