Review: War Machine

War Machine appears designed to be both a political satire and a bromantic workplace comedy but its narrative aimlessness and uncertainty of tone leaves it possessing neither bark nor bite.

Loosely adapted from Michael Hastings' The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan, the film stars Brad Pitt as General Glen McMahon, a military man through and through, beloved by the men and women who serve with and under him, someone who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty, and who believes America's current war in Afghanistan isn't being won because it isn't being properly led. His can-do attitude is put to the test when he's tasked to wind down the war. The only hitch? The Obama administration wants him to do this without sending any more troops. Naturally, McMahon insists the only way he can get the job done is if he's given 40,000 more men.

There's really not much more to the film than this. The straight-talking McMahon is obstructed by Washington bureaucrats such as Alan Ruck's Pat McKinnon and Nicholas Jones' increasingly exasperated Dick Waddle, who just wish he'd get with the program and give in to the inevitable institutional failure. McMahon maintains they can win the war with "the unassailable might of our ideals" and seems wholly oblivious to the fact that he's just another in a long line of men who will be swallowed up by the war machine. His convictions make him a figure of amusement for Afghanistan's President Karzai (an amusing Ben Kingsley) and one to be strongly critiqued by Tilda Swinton's German politician, who questions McMahon's personal ambitions and how those ambitions may result in an unacceptable cost for everyone else.

Pitt, platinum of hair, growly of voice and straight of spine, looks like he stepped out of a comic strip and his performance can be viewed as a more cartoonish version of his Lieutenant Aldo Raine in Inglourious Basterds. It's an effective portrayal even if there's really not much of a character there to portray. The supporting cast features a slew of fine actors who all blend into one another, though Anthony Michael Hall makes a strong impression as McMahon's tightly wound second-in-command.

All in all, War Machine is a disappointing effort from director David Michôd, whose previous works Animal Kingdom and The Rover were tightly paced, lean yet muscular films. Those qualities are evident in the tensely executed sequence when the soldiers carry out their mission in a barely populated town. One also sees Michôd's gift for imbuing humanity in his characters in the lovely scene between McMahon and his much neglected wife, gracefully portrayed by Meg Tilly. Yet, tellingly, these two scenes feel out of place in a film where nearly everyone serves as a mouthpiece and where pointlessness reigns.

War Machine

Directed by: David Michôd

Written by: David Michôd; based on The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan by Michael Hastings

Starring: Brad Pitt, Ben Kingsley, Anthony Hayes, Emory Cohen, RJ Cyler, Topher Grace, Daniel Betts, Anthony Michael Hall, John Magaro, Scoot McNairy, Will Poulter, Keith Stanfield, Meg Tilly, Alan Ruck, Griffin Dunne, Tilda Swinton, Josh Stewart, Georgina Rylance, Nicholas Jones