Experienced drone pilot Lt. Harp makes a questionable decision and finds himself reassigned to the ground to get some first hand combat experience. He is teamed up with Capt. Leo who is working with locals to track a local warlord. It is soon revealed that Capt. Leo is not human but a next generation robot, ostensibly human looking, but 100% artificial.
The two go "outside the wire", where Harp finds himself dealing with the collateral damage Leo generates rather than being the instigator of it.
Yesterday I did an emotional movie so today I went for dumb action. Somebody on the writing team wanted this to be a thoughtful movie about the evolving face of modern warfare and it felt like they had that movie within their grasp but they were outnumbered by the other people on the team making a by the numbers action vehicle.
Early on it's exposition heavy, then we get some excellent Terminator-lite superhuman badassery from Anthony Mackie as Leo before it settles into a predictable and kind of perfunctory rut. In the last gasp they try to resurrect the ethical questions but can't follow through with them. Emily Beecham kind of slums it as a resistance leader with an unexplained English accent. Everywhere seems very empty of people onscreen, maybe that's a pandemic related issue with extras and crew size.
Is not terrible it's just a bit mediocre and less than the sum of its parts 5/10. If you want a movie about the ethics of drones in combat that is still a thrilling cinematic experience watch "Eye in the sky".
Also as a European not particularly well versed in the Ukranian/Russian political situation it felt like they were probably being insensitive/stereotypical of things, but hey it's a Netflix straight to streaming movie so that's not a surprise.