“We’re gonna liberate the shit out of you.” Netflix’s biting satire War Machine has rolled out another trailer featuring Brad Pitt’s aloof U.S. General barking orders in the Middle East.
Lifted from the pages of The Operators: The Wild & Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan – the late journo Michael Hastings is the brains behind the non-fiction novel, which hit store shelves back in 2012 – Netflix has elected David Michôd to write and direct the feature-length adaptation, one which places Brad Pitt in the grubby boots of General Glen McMahon. He’s a brash, overly confident war machine ready to crack the whip within the political cauldron of Afghanistan, only to become a victim of his own hubris.
Pegged to arrive in two weeks’ time, you’ll get a sense of that dramatic rise and equally dramatic fall via today’s new trailer, which also shines the spotlight on the supporting cast: Tilda Swinton, Sir Ben Kingsley, Anthony Michael Hall, Topher Grace, Will Poulter, Lakeith Stanfield, Emory Cohen, John Magaro, RJ Cyler, Alan Ruck, Scoot McNairy and Meg Tilly.
Deemed to be a “film for our times,” War Machine is expected to deploy via Netflix on May 26th. It’s shaping up to be a busy window for the online streamer, what with new seasons of House of Cards (May 30th) and Orange is the New Black (June 7th) barreling down the pipeline. Best get comfortable, folks, there’s a lot of binge-friendly material coming into view, and we couldn’t be more excited.
In a film for our times, writer-director David Michôd (Animal Kingdom) recreates a U.S. General’s roller-coaster rise and fall as part reality, part savage parody – raising the specter of just where the line between them lies today. His is an anti-establishment, pro-soldier exploration in the form of an absurdist war story of a born leader’s ultra-confident march right into the dark heart of folly. At the story’s core is Brad Pitt’s sly take on a successful, charismatic four-star general who leapt in like a rock star to command NATO forces in Afghanistan, only to be taken down by his own hubris and a journalist’s no-holds-barred expose. War Machine addresses the debt we owe to soldiers to question the purposes to which they are being directed.
