150 Word Review: 'War Machine' (2026)
Sloptimus Prime
Alan Ritchson is a truck-sized hamburger of a man. He’s near perfect as Amazon Prime’s Reacher, a wandering, mystery-solving juggernaut. He’s a formidable and charming screen presence, even when starring in uninspired genre dreck like Netflix’s new sci-fi action movie War Machine. Some Netflix movies become instant classics (Roma, Da 5 Bloods, Train Dreams). Most are cinematic soft-serve (The Electric State, The Grey Man, Bright). The streamer doesn’t discriminate. (I do.)
War Machine follows a PTSD-plagued, nearly-over-the-hill vet played by Ritchson, who is obsessed with becoming an elite Army Ranger. Then, during a training mission, Ritchson’s hero and the other recruits come face-to-face with a deadly alien robot… a machine that wages war. Lots of Ranger hopefuls are blown into bloody chunks. Ritchson’s character is not a joiner; he’s haunted by his brother’s death. Can he kick-ass? Definitely. Can he lead? Only time will tell. Is that Dennis Quaid? Yes!
"Netflix doesn’t make movies; [it] extrudes content." Come on, that's a cheap and facile shot. What about the other War Machine, Calibre, the last two Jeremy Saulnier movies, Train Dreams etc etc? Yes, Netflix only distributed some of those but they didn't produce this one either. If you want to blame someone for the new War Machine being dreck, blame Lionsgate.
Anyway, in this case Alan Ritchson is so hunkalicious, it hardly matters.
Yep. That's pretty much it. OH and War Machine 2 is already being written. Of course it is.