Alex Garland and war veteran Ray Mendoza have collaborated on the upcoming war movie Warfare. Here’s everything we know about the film so far!
If you’re looking for a war movie, you’ll find there’s no shortage. Which means such a film would need to really add something unique to stand out among everything else in the genre. Well, Warfare aims to do just that, largely due to the expertise of the filmmakers involved. This upcoming 2025 film was written and directed by former U.S. Navy SEAL Ray Mendoza and Civil War director Alex Garland. Based on Mendoza’s experiences in the Iraq War, the film will follow a group of Navy SEALS as they attempt to survive in 2006 insurgent territory. Though it’s gotten some speculation here and there, a lot of mystery surrounding this film still remains, especially to casual onlookers.
So, we’ll go through everything we know about Warfare, from the talent involved to the storytelling, and break down why this upcoming war movie may be one of the biggest surprises of 2025!
Everything We Know About the Plot of Warfare
The plot of Warfare has been kept very vague. For now, all we know is that it’s inspired by Ray Mendoza’s time in the Iraq War and portrays a team of Navy SEALs – presumably SEAL Team 5, Mendoza’s real-life unit – stuck in an Iraqi home and trying to escape an insurgent attack. Mendoza received a Silver Star for his actions in 2006 Ramadi, Iraq, during which his team was ambushed and he led wounded SEALs through severe enemy fire to extraction. It’s possible that Warfare may tell that specific story, possibly the best representation of Mendoza’s bravery in the war. What little we can gauge from the trailer seems to support that idea. Speaking of which…
Is There a Trailer for Warfare?
The first trailer for Warfare was uploaded to distributor A24’s official YouTube channel on December 16, 2024, giving us a taste of the dirty, aggressively intense tone the war movie will most likely take on. You can watch it here:
Who is Ray Mendoza?
The film’s co-director, Ray Mendoza, is a former U.S. Navy SEAL who served on SEAL Team 5 for 16 years, including during the Iraq War and as a Land Warfare Training Detachment and BUD/s instructor. While that alone would make his feature directorial debut intriguing, he actually has a strong resume in the film industry. He got his cinematic start by starring in the 2012 war film Act of Valor, in which he played a member of SEAL Team 7. From there, Mendoza has been a Military Advisor for several high-profile movies, including Peter Berg’s Lone Survivor, Jurassic World, and most consequentially, Alex Garland’s Civil War.
Mendoza’s involvement is very clear in Lone Survivor and Civil War in particular, both of which capture the raw, loud, unfiltered hardships of war with gruesome authenticity. He’s also produced documentaries such as 2016’s The Warfighters, an unnarrated series depicting first-person accounts of U.S. Special Operations Forces during the war on terror. So, with the expertise in the military, film, and television, Ray Mendoza certainly appears to have the makings for a qualified director.
Who is Alex Garland?
Alex Garland is the writer and director behind some of the past decade’s most singular films. His first three movies are Ex Machina, Annihilation, Men, but he broke into the war movie genre with 2024’s Civil War. Before all that, he was a writer of prominent films like Dread and 28 Days Later, even returning to write the upcoming 28 Years Later. As mentioned, Garland worked with Ray Mendoza during Civil War, and from that experience came their desire to collaborate again to an even greater degree. He and Mendoza wrote and directed Warfare together, though Alex Garland has stated that his co-directing role is secondary to Mendoza’s, who took the lead here. Still, even that level of involvement brings an extra layer of prestige to the project, and I’m very curious to see his style backing up Mendoza’s.
Everything We Know About the Cast of Warfare
Warfare boasts an ensemble cast with some pretty impressive talent across the board. D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, who’s best known as Bear Smallhill on the FX show Reservation Dogs, stars as Ray Mendoza himself. The cast also includes Will Poulter (of Midsommar), Cosmo Jarvis (of Shōgun), Kit Connor (of The Wild Robot), Noah Centineo (of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before), Joseph Quinn (of Gladiator II), Charles Melton (of May December), and Alex Brockdorff (of Homeland), among several others. These are all solid names from a plethora of different backgrounds, all of whom will likely bring everything that’s needed of them at the bare minimum.
Who Else Worked on Warfare?
Warfare’s cinematographer is David J. Thompson. He makes his feature film DP debut here after a thorough career as a camera operator in films including, but not limited to: the Hunger Games movies, Fences, Civil War, and It Ends with Us. Fin Oates takes on editing duties, having recently served as the editor of the film How to Have Sex and the Jeff Goldblum comedy series Kaos. Glenn Freemantle and Mitch Low, regular Alex Garland collaborators, return to lead the film’s sound design, a crucial component of war movies in particular. Garland’s regular production designer Mark Digby also steps into that role here. As of now, no composer has been announced, although my blind guess is that Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow – who did the music for all of Garland’s projects – might step in there.
What Will Make Warfare Stand Out?
In addition to the knowledge and real-life experience of its director, one of the most prominent draws of Warfare we know about is that it will play out in real time. That is, there will be no time skips. The film’s events will happen with the passage of time for us matching exactly how time passes for the Navy SEALs, second-by-second. I love when films pull this off. It puts you in the situation so intensely well, especially in a war movie. To have an actual war veteran be at the wheel for such a process… that is very likely going to be an immersive and exhausting experience to remember. Especially since, as the film’s tagline says, everything is based on memory. Mendoza’s memory, to be exact.
When Will Warfare Be Released? Where Can You Watch It?
There is currently no specific release date announced for Warfare, other than that it will be sometime in 2025. It will initially be a theater-only release, and there is no information on where it will eventually be available for streaming. My best guess is Max, since that’s where fellow A24 war movie Civil War currently resides, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Will Warfare Be Rated R?
Yes, Warfare will be rated R for war violence, bloody imagery, and frequent language.
Will Warfare Be Political?
When it comes to the topic of American war, especially in the 21st century, the waters are grey enough to invite any amount of political discussion, even within film. There have been no direct signs that Warfare will dip its feet into any of those waters, as the film seems to first and foremost be a tribute to the men who fought in this battle and, more broadly, the Iraq War. I don’t know Ray Mendoza’s political stances, and I’m guessing he’s keeping the film politically neutral. But if the Navy SEAL co-writer who lived through these events feels compelled to inject the film with any commentary, I wouldn’t be surprised.
Is There a Poster for Warfare?
There is an official poster for Warfare, which can be seen here:
