alan ritchson in war machine

“Gloriously fun” Alan Ritchson thriller is Netflix’s No.1 Ben King/Netflix

Alan Ritchson’s new movie, sci-fi action hit War Machine, is trending on Netflix after critics hailed it as “brainless, bombastic, bomb-tastic” and “absurd on every level”.

Also starring Dennis Quaid, the film from director and co-writer Patrick Hughes, who penned it with James Beaufort, follows Ritchson’s Staff Sergeant 81.

After being injured in Afghanistan, where his brother (Jai Courtney) was fatally wounded, 81 attends an Army Ranger training programme as per his brother’s wish.

During training, the team is taken aback by an unidentified object whose sole aim is to kill them one by one.

Anticipated by the old-school tagline “it was built for war, but so was he”, War Machine has quickly earned the top spot among the most-watched English-language films on Netflix worldwide.

alan ritchson in war machine

Ben King/Netflix

Related: Best streaming services

The cast for the film, that had a cinema release in Australia in February, is rounded out by Stephan James, Esai Morales, Keiynan Lonsdale, and Daniel Webber.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie has an average critics’ score of 69% out of 45 reviews. Reviews have hailed War Machine as a “gloriously fun” (via Punch Drunk Critics) nostalgic action romper that “hits all the right spots” (via Polygon).

Elsewhere, Empire sold it as “a brainless, bombastic, bomb-tastic action romp” that’s “absurd on almost every level, and far more fun than it has any right to be”.

alan ritchson, war machine

Netflix

Related: Will Netflix’s War Machine get a sequel after cliffhanger ending? Here’s what we know

The New York Times wasn’t fully on board with Ritchson’s performance as 81, pointing out that the Reacher star’s attempts to humanise the protagonist double down “as clichĂ©s” and “lack depth”.

Finally, AV Club encourages viewers to embrace Hughes’ film for what it is, a “proudly, almost guilelessly old-fashioned” action flick.

Digital Spy branded War Machine “the ideal weekend watch” in our review, an action-packed antidote should you need some respite from whatever else is going on in the world right now.