When we first saw trailers of War Machine, the Brad Pitt starrer Netflix Original, the concept of a post-war satire; the story of an hedonistic fool in a powerful position, was quite intriguing. And yes, we have thoroughly enjoyed Pitt's slick and witty version of Rusty Ryan in the Ocean's franchise, or even his mad portrayal of nazi-killing Lt Aldo Raine in Inglorious Bastards. There is also no doubt that Pitt has made his mark as one of the most notable actors in Hollywood, but his take on a real-like four-star General, one who had a pretty distinguished yet complicated military record, failed to impress.
War Machine is a film that has a confused identity. On one hand it is an end-of-war parody about a holier than thou military general, while on the other hand, it highlights the historic American political attitude of subtly invading countries in crisis, in the garb of peace. However, it tries too hard and misses on both fronts.
General Glen McMahon (Brad Pitt) is a high ranking military officer who is a stickler for systems organisation. He is a committed military man who never wavers from his routine of morning runs and single daily meals. Come to think of it, his mechanical lifestyle does add an element of absurdity and humour to the script. He also tends to generalise everything which is funny; there's a scene in which he asks his IT systems head to repair his electronic razor, which is ludicrously comic. Many such small instances make for a good opening (say first half hour) for the film.
McMahon is tasked on a "reconnaissance" mission to Afghanistan by the Obama administration (at the time of elections), which is looking to wind up a decade long invasion of the country. Chosen for his reputation as an order-following naive mule, McMahon is assigned in Afghanistan just as a representation of the US military might, but things progress very differently. The film, as most of you may know, is inspired party by Michael Hastings' non-fiction book called 'The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War In Afghanistan'. The book details Hastings' time spent with General Stanley McChrystal and his team back in 2010. Hastings' account included over 20 hours of audio recordings and self-witnessed accounts of the various frivolities of McChrystal and his team.
While the character of McMahon (General McChrystal in real life) is set up well at the very beginning, it's difficult to see Pitt and his unnatural lip pout throughout the film. One keeps hoping he would give up the weird lower lip extension, as it barely adds to the character he is trying to portray.
War Machine could have been more impactful if it had truly tried to highlight General McChrystal's accomplished war record, his position as the driving force behind the Pentagon's most secretive black ops, as well as his alleged involvement in various administrative cover-ups, but instead it focusses too hard to make Pitt sound and look funny, which he stops being after a point in the film.
But, as we said before, the movie does have a few funny moments; one where Pitt pretends not to hear a superior on video call or another where he tries to force his idealistic, self-important opinions on others. These do make the movie worth a one-time watch. Although, we dont promise these bursts of humour will hold your attention for too long.
There is a scene in the movie where the narrator (the film is narrated from the perspective of Michael Hastings) is heard saying, "You can't build a nation at gunpoint." This truly resonated with us, but its impact didn't last long, as the film tries too hard to be satirical.
There's also an instance inspired by one that happened to McChrystal in real life – a meeting with President Obama aboard Air Force One, wherein the General was reprimanded by the President for publicly dissing Vice President Joe Biden's counterterrorism approach in Afghanistan. In the movie, the meeting never happens and all McMahon gets to do is shake hands with the President. Altering facts for a film based on real-life is risky, and especially annoying when one goes back and reads the original article, only to find out that the meeting actually took place.
The culmination of the movie (and General McChrystal's career) happens after an expose in Rolling Stone, which captured the General and his posse having a wild time all over Europe, while openly criticising the then administration. The timeline of these incidents is not well established, leaving the viewer a little confused.
Overall, we would say that War Machine is a decent one-time watch, provided misinterpretation of facts from the real story is okay with you. We think the makers of the film had a real good, powerful story in their hands and it could have been a big one for Netflix. Sadly, War Machine is average at best. As for Brad Pitt, he failed to recreate the magic of Inglorious Bastards.
PS: Don't miss Ben Kingsley as President Karzai.