5 Best Movies To Watch Before Warfare, A24’s New War Movie

From Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza’s previous collaboration to other gripping cinematic portrayals of modern war, there are plenty of great movies to check out before A24’s new war movie Warfare. Mendoza is a former U.S. Navy SEAL who served in the Iraq War. After he worked as the military supervisor on Garland’s dystopian thriller Civil War, the two got to work on a movie that would bring Mendoza’s real warzone experiences to the screen. Warfare chronicles a mission carried out by a platoon of Navy SEALs in real time.

Garland and Mendoza co-directed the film, which allowed Garland to focus on the technical stuff behind the camera while Mendoza handled the actors in front of the camera. By all accounts, Warfare captures the chaos of battle with intense accuracy. It currently holds a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score of 92%, indicating that we could be looking at a new war movie classic. Before Warfare is released on April 11 in the U.S. and April 18 in the UK, there are plenty of similar war movies and previous Garland productions to watch.

5

Annihilation (2018)

Directed By Alex Garland

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Annihilation

R

Sci-Fi

Mystery

Horror

ScreenRant logo

7/10

13

7.5/10

Release Date

February 23, 2018

Runtime

115 Minutes

Director

Alex Garland

Writers

Alex Garland, Jeff VanderMeer

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Sonoya Mizuno In The Warner Bros Red Carpet

    Sonoya Mizuno

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Kola Bokinni

Alex Garland’s Annihilation is based on the novel of the same name by Jeff VanderMeer. It follows a group of explorers – comprised of biology professor Lena (Natalie Portman), psychologist Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh), physicist Josie Radek (Tessa Thompson), geomorphologist Cassie Sheppard (Tuva Nvotny), and paramedic Anya Thorensen (Gina Rodriguez) – as they enter “the Shimmer”, a quarantined zone of mutated plants and animals caused by an unknown extra-terrestrial phenomenon. Lena agrees to enter the Shimmer in search of her husband, Kane (Oscar Isaac), who was sent in as part of a special forces operation.

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It might belong to a very different genre, but Garland’s sci-fi horror epic Annihilation seems to have a very similar tone and narrative to Warfare. They’re both about a tightknit group of gun-toting heroes venturing into hostile territory with no one but each other to rely on. In Warfare, that group is a platoon of Navy SEALs fighting in Iraq. In Annihilation, they’re a bunch of scientists wandering into “The Shimmer,” a strange quarantined zone where alien intervention is mutating the plants and animals.

Charles Melton as Jake surrounded by his platoon in Warfare

Related

Alex Garland’s New Iraq War Movie Tops Civil War In Its Rotten Tomatoes Score Debut (In More Ways Than One)

Alex Garland’s new war movie, which he co-wrote and co-directed with vet Ray Mendoza, has just debuted on Rotten Tomatoes with an impressive score.

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Annihilation might not have Warfare’s realism, but it does have its intensity. The scene in which a mutated bear torments the scientists by mimicking the voice of their dead friend is as terrifying as any battle scene. The nail-biting tension of Annihilation proves that Garland will nail the horrors of Warfare.

4

The Hurt Locker (2008)

Directed By Kathryn Bigelow

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The Hurt Locker

R

Thriller

War

Drama

ScreenRant logo

9/10

3.3/10

Release Date

July 31, 2009

Runtime

131 minutes

Director

Kathryn Bigelow

Writers

Mark Boal

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Jeremy Renner In The World premiere event for Disney+ original series 'Rennervations'

    Jeremy Renner

  • Headshot Of David Morse In The 62nd Annual Drama Desk Awards

    David Morse

From director Kathryn Bigelow comes The Hurt Locker, the 2008 oscar winning war thriller film that follows Jeremy Renner as Sergeant William James and his bomb disposal team as they navigate beyond enemy lines during the Iraq War. The movie explores the trauma and stresses the soldiers face as they attempt to disarm active explosives on the field, with the repercussions beginning to take their toll on the squadmates.

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While there are plenty of war movies about World War II and the Vietnam War, not many filmmakers are daring enough to tackle modern war in the way Garland and Mendoza have in Warfare. The gold standard for movies about modern warfare is Kathryn Bigelow’s Best Picture-winning gem The Hurt Locker.

The Hurt Locker has a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Hurt Locker revolves around a bomb disposal unit being targeted by insurgents in the second year of the Iraq War. The Hurt Locker’s depiction of combat might not be 100% accurate, but its portrayal of the devastating psychological effects of the horrors of war is spot-on.

3

Ex Machina (2014)

Directed By Alex Garland

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Ex Machina

R

Sci-Fi

Drama

ScreenRant logo

9/10

8.9/10

Release Date

April 10, 2015

Runtime

108 minutes

Director

Alex Garland

Writers

Alex Garland

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Alicia Vikander

    Alicia Vikander

  • Headshot Of Domhnall Gleeson

    Domhnall Gleeson

Young computer programmer Caleb is selected to participate in a groundbreaking experiment by evaluating the human qualities in a new and improved female artificial intelligence. But in the luxurious, isolated mansion of the man who created this technology, all may not be as it seems.

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Garland’s directorial debut, Ex Machina, doesn’t have a lot in common with Warfare, but it was an instant indication of what a great filmmaker he was. Ex Machina is a tense three-hander about the ever-evolving relationship between a low-level computer programmer, his eccentric boss, and the seductive android playing them both against each other. Ex Machina established Garland’s razor-sharp command of cinematic suspense, which would serve him well as co-director of Warfare.

2

Black Hawk Down (2001)

Directed By Ridley Scott

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Black Hawk Down

R

War

Drama

History

13

9.1/10

Release Date

January 18, 2002

Runtime

144 minutes

Director

Ridley Scott

Writers

Ken Nolan

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Jason Isaacs In The PaleyLive NY Series Hollywood Legend Cary Grant: The American

    Jason Isaacs

  • Headshot Of Eric Bana

    Eric Bana

Black Hawk Down recounts the harrowing true story of a U.S. military mission gone awry in Somalia. Tasked with capturing a warlord, elite soldiers find themselves in a fierce battle against Somali militia forces.

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With Warfare, Garland and Mendoza have set out to create one of the most intense viewing experiences in war movie history. Playing out in real time, it won’t have any superfluous plot points or character arcs; it’s just a 95-minute descent into the hell of war.

Once that helicopter goes down and the troops are stranded in enemy territory, Black Hawk Down becomes a non-stop harrowing account of the mayhem of ground-level combat.

Very few movies have been able to pull this off in the past, but one of the most effective efforts is Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down. Once that helicopter goes down and the troops are stranded in enemy territory, Black Hawk Down becomes a non-stop harrowing account of the mayhem of ground-level combat.

1

Civil War (2024)

Directed By Alex Garland

Civil War 2024 Movie Poster Featuring Fighters with Snipers Atop the Statue of Liberty

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Civil War

R

Action

Drama

ScreenRant logo

7/10

27

7.1/10

Release Date

April 12, 2024

Runtime

109 Minutes

Director

Alex Garland

Writers

Alex Garland

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Kirsten Dunst

    Kirsten Dunst

    Lee

  • Headshot Of Wagner Moura

    Wagner Moura

    Joel

Civil War is a 2024 action thriller from writer and director Alex Garland. Starring Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, and Stephen McKinley Henderson, Civil War takes place in the near future and shows the United States entering a new Civil War after California and Texas attempt to separate from the country.

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The best movie to watch before Warfare would be Garland’s last directorial effort, Civil War. Civil War takes place in a dystopian alternate America that has erupted into an unexplained civil war. The film portrays a nightmarish vision of firefights and bombings on the streets of the United States. It doesn’t explain the political specifics of the war; it portrays the consequences of deep political divisions in the abstract. Not only is it another war movie with a similarly intense style; in many ways, Warfare is a companion piece to Civil War.

Collage of Jesse Plemons, Nick Offerman, and Kirsten Dunst in Civil War

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Alex Garland’s new A24 blockbuster Civil War makes a bold cautionary statement about a divided and war-ridden United States under fascist rule.

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When Garland was directing the movie, he brought real-life veteran Mendoza on board to make sure its portrayal of warfare was as accurate as possible (even if the war itself was fictional). After forging a strong working relationship on Civil War, the two reunited to take their hauntingly realistic cinematic depiction of the heat of battle to the next level with a movie based on Mendoza’s real experiences in a real war. Warfare is promising to be even more intense than Civil War — and Civil War was already pretty intense.

Warfare 2025 Film Poster

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Warfare

R

War

Action

ScreenRant logo

7/10

Release Date

April 11, 2025

Director

Ray Mendoza, Alex Garland

Writers

Ray Mendoza, Alex Garland

Cast

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  • Cast Placeholder Image

    D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai

  • Headshot Of Charles Melton

    Charles Melton

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