Hi everybody and welcome to a new review! Since I’ve been getting to watching more movies that came out this year I will be making it a priority to get reviews of them out as soon as possible (as well as doing catch ups from last year at the same time). With that that said today I will be looking at one of the many movies Netflix has released in the year thus far with Outside the Wire which was also one of the first as it came out in early January. I didn’t really know too much about it before it released except that it was a sci fi action movie starring Anthony Mackie who is of course known for playing Sam Wilson (AKA Falcon) in the MCU. Just the very concept of it seemed to appeal to me as I love anything Sci fi and it’s neat to see Mackie in a big movie like this. So I finally was able to check it out and while it’s not terrible in any way, it was also wasn’t quite as good as it’s potential suggested. Now let’s jump forward in the future to witness how these writers decided to portray the next step in robotic warfare.
Set in the year 2036 where a civil war is being fought between a resistance force in Ukraine and pro-Russian insurgents which leads the U.S. to get involved by sending in forces to keep the peace which includes robotic soldiers known as “G.U.M.P.” On one fateful mission some troops are ambushed by enemy forces and one drone pilot, Lt. Harp, decides to launch a drone strike to take down an enemy launcher saving 38 lives, yet killing 2 in the process. Due to this he is punished by being sent to the U.S. base, Camp Nathaniel, in Ukraine to serve under Captain Leo, a tough general who is also an android under a human exterior. together they set out on a mission to stop a terrorist named Victor Koval from getting control of nuclear weapons, though unbeknownst to Harp there is much more going on than initially expected.
What I most admired about this movie is how it does have some ambitions in terms of the ideas it is exploring. It’s trying to be a grounded war movie, but with a bit of a sci fi tinge to it and that alone is something the writers can do so much with. There are plenty of interesting things regarding technology and how it is utilized for combat and helping the soldiers in the fight as well as how it easy it can be for things to go wrong with this type of tech in warfare. I even like how we see through Sergeant Leo how the technology itself feels about all of this and how even they can be able to gain a sense of control for themselves. It reminded me a lot of the 2014 Robocop movie in these senses and I can certainly appreciate them for trying to tackle these interesting ideas. However just like that film this is a flawed in it’s execution, the case being here that I don’t feel the writers executed these ideas in a way that was as compelling or in depth as it could have been. It all just feels rather run of the mill in that respect, merely scratching the surface of it’s concepts, and settling for being a familiar story regarding a rookie in the field teaming up with a tough authority figure and things do not go as they expect and it hits the beats and twists associated with this story. Now of course there’s nothing wrong with doing a story that has been done before, it’s just that here I don’t think it was done in a way that makes it stand out from others like it even with a lot of cool ideas at it’s disposal. At the very least it it watchable and it doesn’t overstay it’s welcome too much, despite some scenes that drag but still I was hoping for a bit more with the story given the promise that is showed.
I will give Netflix this though, that in terms of their big movies they are doing a good job in making them look and feel something that have a theatrical value to them with Extraction being a good example. While I wouldn’t say Outside the Wire is quite on that level (it’s not as visually arresting as others) I do think the money is mostly on the screen and I do think the team did a nice job in terms of bringing this war torn setting to life. Director, Mikael Hafstrom, also is able to do a solid job in terms of grounding things and he does a nice job of building the tension in certain sequences like where a stand off between the rebels and the soldiers might occur. As for the action itself well most of it is well staged and coherent even if there was not one in particular that really stood out (I guess the scenes whenever Leo shows off his abilities are fun to watch) as they all feel very similar to each other since it’s mostly shoot outs with the occasional fist fight here and there. One thing that did impress me though were the robots as the VFX artist did a really good job in that area. Like the best CGI they blended into the movie nicely as they looked real and even the movements nicely handled in a somewhat realistic matter as they moved in a way these types of robots would move (not sure if that made much sense, but either way they were good). I may still have my issues with the movie but it is another step in the right direction in terms of Netflix making these types of movies on the regular in a technical sense.
As I mentioned before Anthony Mackie is being billed as the top star here and he was my favorite part of the movie. I thought he was excellent in the role as he showcases the strict nature of the character as well as the fact that is an experiences soldier who has seen a lot in his android life. He even has a sarcastic sense of humor that I was not expecting and it did provide some entertainment. The direction Leo’s arc goes may not be all that surprising but I thought it was one of the more interesting aspects of the movie and the idea of an AI going against command is inherently compelling. Then there’s the actual lead of the movie, Thomas Harp, played by Damson Idris and this is a frustrating case as I like the idea of his arc of this drone pilot who has never experienced the real fighting going into the warzone and how that changes his perspective on things. I just wish his development was stronger as while there are some scenes that do give some development it still feels undercooked on the whole and thus the pay offs don’t land quite as well as hoped. He also isn’t the most interesting personality despite Idris’s best efforts as his most notable trait at the start is being smart with little empathy towards any soldiers and only caring about the mission. While he does change as the movie goes on I still can’t say I was fully invested in his arc and the relationship between him and Leo is a variation on the veteran shows rookie how things really are type story and again it’s a very standard take on this type of story. As for the rest of the cast they mostly exist to spout exposition or move our characters from point A to point B like Emily Beecham’s Sofiya, a resistance leader who knows Leo, to disapprove of Harp’s actions thanks to his actions such as Enzo Cilenti’s Miller, or to serve as the military high authority figure which is filled by Michael Kelly’s Colonel Eckhart. Oh and as for Victor Koval (Pilou Asbaek), slight spoilers but he’s really more of a red herring more than anything else. At the very least though it does show Mackie’s skills as an actor… I just wished I was invested in everyone else.
All in all Outside the Wire is a case of the execution not living up to the potential. It has plenty of interesting ideas, the basic concept is one with promise, there are moments of genuine suspense, the action is coherent, Anthony Mackie is terrific in the lead role, and there’s really nothing outright terrible about it. I just wish it explored it’s themes and ideas beyond the surface level, it had a little more variety in terms of the action, and that I cared about the lead more. There’s definitely aspects about it that I can admire and those who like Anthony Mackie might be interested in checking this out, but even as a fan of sci fi action movies, it’s very much a mixed bag in my eyes. Still though I can appreciate the ambition and I feel like if the writers did a couple more drafts this could have a really strong entry in it’s genre.
Rating: C+
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