''War Machine'' is a 2017 American
satirical
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or ...
war comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...
directed and written by
David Michôd and starring
Brad Pitt
William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Awar ...
,
Anthony Michael Hall
Michael Anthony Hall (born April 14, 1968), known professionally as Anthony Michael Hall, is an American actor best known for his leading role as Johnny Smith in '' The Dead Zone'' from 2002 to 2007. He also rose to fame starring in films with ...
,
Anthony Hayes,
Topher Grace,
Will Poulter,
Tilda Swinton, and
Ben Kingsley. Based on the nonfiction book ''
The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan'' by
Michael Hastings, it is a fictionalized version of the events in the book based on
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...
General
Stanley McChrystal.
The film was released on
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
on May 26, 2017.
Plot
In the summer of 2009,
four-star General Glen McMahon, having won renown for his effective leadership in
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
, is sent to
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...
to prepare a strategic assessment so that the government can end the ongoing
war. He is given wide latitude to write it, on the sole condition that he not request more troops.
McMahon and his staff, particularly his right hand man Major General Greg Pulver, are united in their belief that the war can be won, and decide to recommend that
President Obama authorize a surge of 40,000 additional troops to secure
Helmand province in order to stabilize the country. However, the
Secretary of State informs McMahon that, because he requested more troops, and such a surge is incompatible with upcoming elections, McMahon's report will not be reviewed until after Afghanistan's
presidential election
A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President.
Elections by country
Albania
The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public.
Chile
The p ...
.
Captain Badi Basim, a member of the
Afghan National Army, joins McMahon's staff as a "representative" of the Afghan people. He arrives in civilian clothes as he does not wish to wear his uniform, which he has in a bag, because of the risk of being killed. Meanwhile, McMahon is informed that due to massive voter fraud in the recent election, a runoff election will have to be held, further delaying the review of the assessment. Fed up, McMahon secretly leaks the assessment to ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...
'' and organizes an interview with ''
60 Minutes'', during which he reveals that, in the last 70 days he has only been granted one meeting with President Obama.
In response, Obama announces that he will send 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, but that all U.S. and coalition forces in the country will leave in 18 months, infuriating McMahon and his staff for telegraphing America's Afghan strategy to the Taliban in Afghanistan. To gather the remaining 10,000 troops needed for his strategy to work, McMahon and his men head to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
to negotiate with the other coalition nations.
In Paris, McMahon learns that the President is in Denmark and wishes to meet with him. The ambassador to Afghanistan warns McMahon that he needs to understand President Obama's position: if McMahon continues to anger the President, he will be fired for insubordination. The President, however, merely shakes McMahon's hand as he climbs aboard
Air Force One
Air Force One is the official air traffic control designated call sign for a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States. In common parlance, the term is used to denote U.S. Air Force aircraft modified and us ...
, supposedly due to time constraints. McMahon and his staff attend a dinner in McMahon's honor, accompanied by ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' writer Sean Cullen, who intends to write a feature story about his performance for an upcoming issue. The next day, during their wedding anniversary dinner, McMahon's wife Jeanie confronts him about how much time he's been spending fighting abroad instead of being with his family back home.
While en route to
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...
with McMahon's staff to continue negotiations, Cullen observes their behavior when "out of country" and concludes that they are arrogant, seem to care little about the growing public perception that the war is costly and unwinnable, and hold civilian leadership in contempt. At a conference to discuss his strategy, McMahon is confronted by a German official who criticizes the war and McMahon's strategy. Nevertheless, both the Germans and the French agree to furnish the troops needed for McMahon's planned offensive, codenamed "
Operation Moshtarak
Operation Moshtarak (Dari for ''Together'' or ''Joint''), also known as the Battle of Marjah, was an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) pacification offensive in the town of Marjah, Helmand Province, Afghanistan. It involved a com ...
", to proceed, with Afghan President
Hamid Karzai
Hamid Karzai (; Pashto/ fa, حامد کرزی, , ; born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan statesman who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from July 2002 to September 2014, including as the first elected president of the Islamic Repub ...
's approval.
The operation launches, but soon runs into trouble when several civilians are accidentally killed. When McMahon holds a public meeting with locals to apologize for the incident and explain that the U.S. is fighting the war for the benefit of Afghans, the crowd grows hostile and asks McMahon and his troops to leave.
McMahon later learns that Cullen's article has been published, and realizes it paints a negative picture of him and his staff as openly speaking against the President and mishandling the war effort. The President calls McMahon to Washington. Knowing that he will be fired for his actions, McMahon returns to Washington and later takes a job as a civilian consultant.
In the aftermath, Cullen ponders the consequences of his article, noting that he wished McMahon's fall would finally convince the government to stop invading foreign countries and end the war in Afghanistan. Instead the government simply assigns a new general to replace McMahon.
Cast
McMahon's Entourage
*
Brad Pitt
William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Awar ...
as General Glen McMahon, a character based on General
Stanley McChrystal.
He is portrayed as an accomplished general with degrees from
West Point and
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...
, brought in to bring a resolution to the conflict in Afghanistan.
*
Anthony Hayes as Lieutenant Commander Pete Duckman, a
Navy SEAL and member of McMahon's staff
*
Emory Cohen as Sergeant Willy Dunne, General McMahon's
body man
*
RJ Cyler as
USAF Tech Sergeant Andy Moon, information technology support assistant
*
Daniel Betts
Daniel Alexander Betts (born 10 December 1971) is a British film, television, stage and voiceover actor.
Life
Born in West Sussex,
Betts trained at the Drama Centre London. As well as appearing in films and television programmes, he has bee ...
as
USN Rear Admiral Simon Ball, McMahon's Senior Public Affairs Officer
*
Topher Grace as Matt Little, a former lobbyist turned McMahon's civilian media adviser, based loosely on Duncan Boothby
*
Anthony Michael Hall
Michael Anthony Hall (born April 14, 1968), known professionally as Anthony Michael Hall, is an American actor best known for his leading role as Johnny Smith in '' The Dead Zone'' from 2002 to 2007. He also rose to fame starring in films with ...
as Major General Greg Pulver,
ISAF Director of Intelligence,
loosely based on Lieutenant General
Michael Flynn
*
John Magaro as Colonel Cory Staggart, an
Army Ranger and General McMahon's executive officer
* Aymen Hamdouchi as Captain Badi Basim, a scholarly
Afghan National Army officer who becomes General McMahon's
aide-de-camp
*
Scoot McNairy
John Marcus "Scoot" McNairy (born November 11, 1977) is an American actor and film producer. He is known for his roles in '' Monsters'', ''Argo'', ''Killing Them Softly'', ''12 Years a Slave'', '' Gone Girl'', and '' Batman v Superman: Dawn of J ...
as Sean Cullen, a cynical journalist for ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' who accompanies McMahon and his staff and acts as narrator throughout the film, loosely based on author
Michael Hastings
*
Meg Tilly as Jeanie McMahon, Glen McMahon's wife
U.S. Diplomats
*
Sian Thomas Sian or Siyan may refer to:
__NOTOC__ People
*Siân, a Welsh girl's name; list of people with this name
Places
*Sian, Iran (disambiguation), various places in Iran
*Sian, Russia, a rural locality in Amur Oblast, Russia
* Xi'an, China, formerly roma ...
as
United States Secretary of State
The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...
Edith May, based on
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
*
Alan Ruck
Alan Douglas Ruck (born July 1, 1956) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Cameron Frye, Ferris Bueller's best friend, in John Hughes's film ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' (1986); Stuart Bondek, a lecherous, power-hungry member of ...
as Lieutenant General Pat McKinnon, United States Ambassador to Afghanistan, loosely based on Lieutenant General
Karl Eikenberry
Karl Winfrid Eikenberry (born November 10, 1951) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who served as the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan from April 2009 to July 2011. From 2011 to 2019, he was the Director of the U.S. Asia Security In ...
*
Nicholas Jones as Dick Waddle, loosely based on Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan
Richard Holbrooke
*
Griffin Dunne
Thomas Griffin Dunne (; born June 8, 1955) is an American actor, film producer, and film director. Dunne studied acting at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City. He is known for portraying Jack Goodman in '' An Amer ...
as Ray Canucci, a
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other na ...
senior official
Politicians
*
Ben Kingsley as President
Hamid Karzai
Hamid Karzai (; Pashto/ fa, حامد کرزی, , ; born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan statesman who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from July 2002 to September 2014, including as the first elected president of the Islamic Repub ...
*
Reggie Brown as President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
*
Tilda Swinton as a German politician
Combat Marines
*
Will Poulter as Sergeant Ricky Ortega, a
Marine Corps infantry squad leader
*
Lakeith Stanfield as Corporal Billy Cole, a disillusioned Marine and member of Ortega's squad.
*
Josh Stewart
Joshua Regnall Stewart (born February 6, 1977) is an American actor who is best known for his role as Holt McLaren in the FX TV series ''Dirt'' and as Detective William LaMontagne, Jr., on the CBS series ''Criminal Minds''. He was also cast as ...
as Captain Dick North, a Marine Corps officer
Other cast members
*
Rufus Wright
Rufus Gerrard-Wright, known as Rufus Wright, is an English film, stage and television actor.
Personal life
Wright is the son of Major-General Richard Gerrard-Wright and his wife, Susan (née Young). He is the younger brother of Lance Gerrard-Wr ...
as
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...
Lieutenant Colonel Frank Groom
*
Georgina Rylance as Lydia Cunningham, ''
60 Minutes'' journalist
*
Russell Crowe as General Bob White (''uncredited''), General Glen McMahon's replacement, similar to
David Petraeus
Production
On April 27, 2012, it was announced that
New Regency and
Plan B Entertainment had acquired the film adaptation rights to the 2011 best seller
non-fiction book ''
The Operators'' by
Michael Hastings. On April 14, 2014,
David Michôd was hired to write and direct the film based on the
war in Afghanistan.
Brad Pitt
William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Awar ...
was attached to star as General
Stanley McChrystal and produce the film along with his Plan B partners
Dede Gardner and
Jeremy Kleiner, while the film would be financed by New Regency and
RatPac Entertainment.
On June 8, 2015,
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
acquired the distribution rights to the film which was re-titled ''War Machine'', while
Ian Bryce also came on board to produce the film along with others. On June 17, ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...
'' revealed that there had been a budget issue between New Regency and RatPac with producers of Plan B, and thus Netflix had stepped in to buy the distribution rights for $60 million.
On August 4, 2015,
Emory Cohen was cast in the film to play a member of Gen. McChrystal's staff.
On August 10, 2015,
Topher Grace joined the film to play Gen. Stanley McChrystal's civilian press adviser.
On August 11, 2015,
John Magaro signed on to play Cory Burger, a special ops soldier and close advisor to General McMahon.
On August 14, 2015,
Scoot McNairy
John Marcus "Scoot" McNairy (born November 11, 1977) is an American actor and film producer. He is known for his roles in '' Monsters'', ''Argo'', ''Killing Them Softly'', ''12 Years a Slave'', '' Gone Girl'', and '' Batman v Superman: Dawn of J ...
joined the cast of the film.
On August 19, 2015,
Anthony Michael Hall
Michael Anthony Hall (born April 14, 1968), known professionally as Anthony Michael Hall, is an American actor best known for his leading role as Johnny Smith in '' The Dead Zone'' from 2002 to 2007. He also rose to fame starring in films with ...
was added to the cast to play General Hank Pulver, loosely based on General
Mike Flynn.
On August 20, 2015,
LaKeith Stanfield signed on to the film.
The same day,
Will Poulter also joined the cast for an unspecified role.
On August 25,
Anthony Hayes joined the film.
On October 23, 2015, ''
TheWrap
''TheWrap'' is an American online news website covering the business of entertainment and media via digital, print and live events. It was founded by journalist Sharon Waxman in 2009.
Awards
''TheWrap'' has won awards for its journalism, incl ...
'' revealed that
RJ Cyler had also joined the film.
Filming
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as ...
on the film began in mid-October 2015 in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. Later on October 19, filming began in
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dha ...
; the city was transformed into
Kabul
Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into #Districts, 22 municipal dist ...
, streets into a military fortress, an old building as an
American Embassy in Kabul, and a street as a Palestinian border crossing.
Filming also took place at the
Abu Dhabi International Airport
Abu Dhabi International Airport ( ar, مطار أبو ظبي الدولي) is an international airport in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
The airport, located east of Abu Dhabi city, is the second largest ...
in November.
In mid-November 2015, while final scenes were being shot, actors were spotted filming in
Ras al-Khaimah
Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) ( ar, رَأْس ٱلْخَيْمَة, historically Julfar) is the largest city and capital of the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. It is the sixth-largest city in UAE after Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Al A ...
and the city's old neighborhood was transformed into
Pakistani villages and a military base-camp. The film’s final scene filmed in Sydney Airport’s International Terminal arrival hall, is a cameo appearance by Russel Crowe, a Sydney resident, along with other Australian Dan Wyllie. The scene displays pitch black windows as it was filmed during the airports 11pm to 6am shutdown and curfew.
Release
The film was released on
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
on May 26, 2017.
Marketing
Brad Pitt visited
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...
to promote the film and attended a special screening at
PVR High Street Phoenix on May 24, 2017. He also met Bollywood star
Shah Rukh Khan to promote ''War Machine''.
Critical response
On the
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
, the film has an approval rating of 47% based on 97 reviews, and an
average rating of 5.64/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "''War Machine''s uneven execution keeps its fact-based story from cleanly hitting its targets, but those flaws are frequently offset by sharp wit and solid acting." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a 56 out of 100 score, based on 30 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
References
External links
*
*
*
''The Operators''by
Michael Hastings at Google Books
{{Plan B Entertainment
Films directed by David Michôd
Films shot in London
Films shot in Abu Dhabi
Films set in Afghanistan
Films based on non-fiction books
Films based on military novels
Films set in 2010
2010s satirical films
War films based on actual events
Drama films based on actual events
Comedy films based on actual events
American war comedy films
2010s war comedy films
Plan B Entertainment films
Films produced by Brad Pitt
War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) films
American political films
Films about military personnel
Films shot in Surrey
Films scored by Nick Cave
Films scored by Warren Ellis (musician)
English-language Netflix original films
2017 films
Films about the United States Army
Films shot in the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah
Cultural depictions of Barack Obama
Films about American military personnel
2017 comedy films
Films produced by Ian Bryce
2010s English-language films
2010s American films