Directors: Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza
Starring: Will Poulter, Charles Melton
Running Time: 95 minutes
Synopsis: The setting is Ramadi, Iraq, in 2006. A Navy SEAL unit takes over a two-storey residential house and sets up a sniper position, keeping close tabs on local insurgent activity. But soon they are spotted and become a target. When attacked, the SEALs have to defend themselves and organize an evacuation.
What Works Well: Based on actual events, co-directors Alex Garland and (former SEAL) Ray Mendoza zoom-in to the operational level and capture stunning intensity, tension, and attention to detail. This is war deglamorized, functioning at the heartbeat, non-heroic, guttural scream-from-pain level. The soldiers' focus on the task at hand is all that matters, represented by real-time problem solving within the machinations of the US military. The drama sustains exhausting anxiety due to serious wounds, disorientation, and the dual imperatives to fight back and coordinate rescues.
What Does Not Work As Well: This is narrative-free and context-free filmmaking essentially mimicking front-line real-time live news reporting. A camera crew embedded with the soldiers would have captured the realism, but the reporters may have provided mission context and asked a few questions about the soldiers' backstories while they were at it.
Key Quote:
Spotter (asking about a potential enemy on a nearby rooftop): Is he peeking or probing?
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