War Game

2024

Documentary / Thriller

2
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 80% · 45 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 61%
IMDb Rating 5.5/10 10 633 633

civil war politics simulation role playing cinéma vérité war room

Plot summary

A bipartisan group of U.S. defense, intelligence, and elected policymakers spanning five presidential administrations participate in an unscripted role-play exercise in which they confront a political coup backed by rogue members of the U.S. military, in the wake of a contested presidential election.

Director

Jesse Moss Photo
Jesse Moss

Top cast

Ralph Brown Photo
Ralph Brown as Lieutenant General Roger Simms
Chris Henry Coffey Photo
Chris Henry Coffey as Gov. Robert Strickland
Gary Perez Photo
Gary Perez as Lieutenant General Gabriel King
Steve Bullock Photo
Steve Bullock as President John Hotham
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB 2160p.WEB.x265
873.26 MB
1280*532
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  fr  
23.976 fps
1 hr 34 min
Seeds 10
1.75 GB
1920*798
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles us  fr  
23.976 fps
1 hr 34 min
Seeds 32
4.23 GB
3840*1600
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles us  fr  
23.976 fps
1 hr 34 min
Seeds 6

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by david-meldrum 6 / 10

Interesting And Compelling, But Unclear As To Its Fruitfulness

An undeniably entertaining and alarming documentary detailing a war game about a repeat of the January 6th 2021 insurrection in Washington. What it reveals is, to a certain extent, both reassuring and alarming. There are clearly aspects of American - and this will be mirrored in governments across the world - civil leadership that are not as grounded in the real concerns and practices of people who could potentially pose a real threat. I wasn't fully convinced that some of the failures of leadership in the game were shown to have convincingly serious enough ramifications. And whilst a report on the exercise has been shared at the highest level of the American government, the film ends with a sort of misty-eyed patriotism which suggests to me that there's a real danger of this being another exercise in liberal elites talking to themselves.
Reviewed by danchrismanco

Interesting look at a worthwhile exercise

There are clearly people throwing 1s at this who haven't actually watched it. Even the longer written reviews with low ratings are not motivated by the quality of the documentary or the importance of the subject, but by partisan defensiveness.The presence of retired service members and serious former government officials who served under administrations of both parties adds weight to the simulation. The documentary, while not perfect, is generally well done and offers a good look at how it progressed.Obviously this is framed in relation to January 6, and how you feel about that is going to color your perspective on the doc. But if you take the subject seriously, don't let the bad faith review bombing and conspiracy theorists scare you away. Watch and judge for yourself.
Reviewed by grimmfilment 7 / 10

Great Concept, Bad Subject

When I say bad subject, I mean focusing on a theoretical repeat of January 6th insurrection. Americans may need to be burned before they learn not to grab the pan... but when they do, best be sure they'll overcompensate with the mittens.That said, January 6th was a shocking moment that reverberated around the world and left me, a non US citizen, absolutely stunned. A lot of documentaries have been made about the day, what went wrong and why. Charges were brought up, courts did their thing and in the end... well, you know what happened.What this exercise attempts to do is recreate the same event but with a bit more spicing to the mix, and therein lies the problem. Everyone who has participated in this exercise has been in politics in one way, shape or form. These people have, without a doubt, studied the events of that day and by default went in this exercise, albeit somewhat in the dark, still aware of possible consequences to their decisions. They're essentially fighting a battle that has already been won... despite the monkey wrenches the game master throws at them.The documentary touches of militias, radicalized current and former members of armed forces, high ranking members of the armed forces taking political stances and the risk that comes with that, being able to order their troops to take a side in an event like the one on January 6th when a close election happened. It's all a bit too farfetched, but then again so was the attack on the Capitol... until it happened.My gripe is that this concept has the potential to be brilliant, if for no other reason than to inform the public, to give them insight on how decision making takes place behind closed doors. A while ago a TV show named the West Wing did just that, with the exception of adding drama to spice things up, but it gave the audience an inside look into politics... and itch I don't think any other program has satisfied since.War Game scenario has that potential. Picture a random group of politicians brought together having a random crisis thrown their way and watching them trying to navigate it. Picture two groups, unaware of each other, playing off each other by trying to achieve their respective goal. I mean, I know there would be some level of "censorship" of the process... but it would still be an incredible watch.Either way, I initially gave this a 5, but I did so having only watched until the half way point. The second half of the documentary sees things pick up the pace and become quite tense... for an exercise.It's a fascinating watch. And also, that was one hell of a presidential speech.
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