‘Warfare’: A Harrowing, Real-Time Descent into Iraq Combat Now Streaming on HBO Max

One of 2025’s most acclaimed—and unflinching—war films has found a new life on streaming after a modest theatrical run. Warfare, co-directed by Alex Garland (Civil War, Ex Machina) and Iraq War veteran Ray Mendoza, arrived on HBO Max in September 2025 and quickly surged to the platform’s top spot, introducing its brutal realism to a wider audience.

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Based directly on Mendoza’s experiences as a Navy SEAL, the A24 release recreates a single, catastrophic day—November 19, 2006—in Ramadi, Iraq, in near real-time. A platoon from SEAL Team 5, nicknamed the “Bushmasters,” occupies a two-story Iraqi family home for overwatch during a joint operation. What begins as routine surveillance erupts into chaos: gunfire without warning, IED explosions, disorienting confusion, and mounting casualties. There are no heroic monologues, no flashbacks, no patriotic swells—just the raw, grinding reality of modern combat.

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Mendoza, who served over 16 years including as a JTAC (Joint Terminal Attack Controller) coordinating air support, portrays himself via D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai. The ensemble features rising stars Will Poulter, Joseph Quinn (whose character endures agonizing wounds), Cosmo Jarvis (as severely injured corpsman Elliott Miller, to whom the film is dedicated), Charles Melton, Kit Connor, Finn Bennett, Michael Gandolfini, Noah Centineo, and others. Character development is minimal by design—names are rarely used, backstories absent—mirroring the fractured, adrenaline-fueled perception of soldiers under fire.

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The film’s power lies in its technical mastery. Handheld cameras stay claustrophobically close, spatial disorientation intentional. Sound design is weaponized: explosions thud viscerally, gunfire cracks sharply, silences suffocate. Critics hailed it as the most immersive combat depiction since Saving Private Ryan‘s Normandy sequence or All Quiet on the Western Front. With a 92-93% Rotten Tomatoes score (Certified Fresh) and matching audience approval, reviews called it “emotionally harrowing,” “nerve-shredding,” and a “masterful technical achievement.”

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Released theatrically in April 2025 after a Chicago premiere, Warfare grossed $33.6 million worldwide on a reported $20 million budget—solid for an R-rated, non-franchise drama but underwhelming compared to Garland’s Civil War ($127 million). Its streaming debut on HBO Max propelled it to #1, proving word-of-mouth and critical buzz can revive underseen gems.

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Garland and Mendoza emphasized authenticity: actors underwent boot camp, real veterans visited set, and the script drew from platoon testimonies “based on memory.” The directors avoided judgment, focusing on sensory truth. As Mendoza told interviewers, it was therapeutic; Garland called it an “honor” to amplify lived experience.

Not for the faint-hearted—viewers report feeling shaken—Warfare strips war of glamour, forcing confrontation with its terror and cost. In an era of blockbuster spectacle, it stands as a bold, essential antidote.