Warfare premiered at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago on 16 March 2025, and was released in the United States by A24 on 11 April 2025, and in the United Kingdom on 18 April. The film received positive reviews and has grossed $33.6 million worldwide.[7]
Plot
In 2006, after the Battle of Ramadi, Navy SEAL platoon Alpha One takes control of a two-story house under cover of darkness. JTAC communications officer Ray Mendoza coordinates air support to monitor their position, while sniper and corpsman Elliott Miller monitors a market down the street with fellow sniper Frank, providing overwatch in support of a joint operation with the Marines.
Iraqi army translators Farid and Sidar gather the two families who live on separate floors of the building into one of the bedrooms. The SEALs observe increasing enemy activity, and air support leaves their area. ANGLICO Lieutenant McDonald radios for air assets while the translators warn the enemy has broadcast a call to arms. Leading Officer in Charge Erik and Leading Petty Officer Sam order the translators to guard the lower level of the building.
A grenade is thrown in the sniper's room without warning, injuring Elliott. A CASEVAC is called to evacuate him while the SEALs and insurgents exchange gunfire. The team gathers their gear, blows Claymore mines to clear the perimeter, and withdraw through smoke cover toward a waiting U.S. ArmyM2 Bradley. As its ramp drops to receive the squad, an IED explodes. Farid is killed; Sidar flees; Elliott and Sam are severely wounded; Ray, Erik, and Tommy suffer concussions. The injured Bradley crew drives the vehicle away.
Alpha One regroups back in the house, tending to Sam and Elliott's severe injuries. Alpha Two is prevented from redeploying to help Alpha One by firefights in the street. Air support returns, but because enemy fighters are so close to Alpha One's position, McDonald can only coordinate a show of force. Ray and Erik's traumatic brain injuries cause them to dissociate and become badly disoriented.
Alpha Two arrives at the building and Jake takes command. His request for another CASEVAC is denied for fear of another IED attack and he orders his communications officer, John, to impersonate the brigade's commanding officer to approve their evacuation. The SEALs provide covering fire as Elliott and Sam are successfully evacuated by Bradley. The survivors prepare to defend the house with insurgents converging on them, and order Bradleys to rake the second floor above them with their cannons. Under the cover of another show of force, Alpha One and Alpha Two are transported out of the area by Bradleys under heavy fire. The civilians slowly emerge from the bedroom, relieved the soldiers have left, while surviving insurgents cautiously gather in the street.
The film ends on the title card: For Elliott. Before the end credits roll, the real SEAL Team 5 involved in the mission are shown participating in the production of the film, alongside a photo montage that shows the actual house, the declassified/classified individuals involved and the actors portraying them.
Cast
With the exception of Mendoza and Miller, all real-life figures were given aliases for their characters.
In February 2024, it was announced that A24 was developing a war film with Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland attached, which would follow Garland's film Civil War, for which Mendoza was military supervisor. The duo wrote the script and planned to direct the film together. At the time of the announcement, Charles Melton was in negotiations to star,[11] and Joseph Quinn was being considered for the cast.[12]D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai was cast to portray Mendoza himself in March 2024, when the title was confirmed to be Warfare,[13] with Kit Connor, Cosmo Jarvis, Will Poulter, and Finn Bennett being added to the cast.[14] That month, Garland announced he would step back from directing films and focus on writing, announcing that his directorial role in Warfare would be more of a supporting role to Mendoza's.[15] In April 2024, Noah Centineo, Taylor John Smith, Adain Bradley, Michael Gandolfini, Henry Zaga, and Evan Holtzman joined the cast.[16] Filming took place at Bovingdon Airfield Studios in the UK.[17]
Release
Warfare was released by A24 in the United States on 11 April 2025.[18][19] The film premiered at the Hollywood American Legion Theater in Los Angeles on 12 March 2025, in front of veterans and members of the military community and featured a questions and answers session with the directors after the screening. [20] The film had a star-studded red carpet premiere in Los Angeles on 27 March 2025. [21] The film had a UK premiere at Battersea Power Station Cinema on 1 April 2025, which was attended by many of the cast and crew,[22] before going on general release in the UK on 18 April 2025. [23] The film is scheduled to be available to stream on HBO Max starting 12 September 2025.[24][needs update]
Reception
Box office
As of May30,2025[update], Warfare grossed $26 million in the United States and Canada, and $6.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $32.9 million.[4][3]
In the United States and Canada, Warfare was released alongside The Amateur, Drop, and The King of Kings, and was projected to gross $6–9million from 2,670 theaters in its opening weekend.[25][2] The film made $3.6 million on its first day, including an estimated $1.16million from preview screenings throughout the week. It went on to debut to $8.3 million, finishing fourth at the box office.[26][27] In its second weekend the film made $4.9 million (a drop of 41%), finishing in fifth.[28]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 92% of 238 critics' reviews are positive.The website's consensus reads: "Narratively cut to the bone and geared up with superb filmmaking craft, Warfare evokes the primal terror of combat with unnerving power."[29]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 78 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[30] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale (tied with The Iron Claw for the highest grade earned by an A24 film), while those surveyed by PostTrak gave it a 90% overall positive score, with 67% saying they would definitely recommend the film.[26]
In a five-star review for the BBC, critic Caryn James wrote, "together, Garland's virtuosity and Mendoza's first-hand experience create a masterful technical achievement that is, more important, emotionally harrowing."[31] Critic Wendy Ide of The Guardian also gave Warfare five stars, writing that the film, "doesn't just show you the horrors of war; it forces you to taste the dust and the choking panic, smell the fear and the cordite and the tinny metallic tang of spilled blood", and favorably compared it with other war films such as Saving Private Ryan, Come and See, and All Quiet on the Western Front.[32]
In a mixed review, Gregory Nussen of Deadline Hollywood wrote: "At best, Warfare is an artfully made recreation; at worst it is naked military propaganda set during one of the country's most egregious moments of imperialism."[33]
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