War Machine

We’re familiar with combat movies about soldiers squaring off against enemy forces or battling the demons inside their own heads. There’s a third adversarial option in War Machine, which winds up fighting a pedestrian script.

This testosterone-fueled, throwback science-fiction action saga emphasizes brawn over brains while failing to cover any meaningful new territory — as a military procedural, an exploration of the physical and psychological wounds of war, or a depiction of courage and camaraderie along the front lines.

It’s an Australian production that follows an American soldier (Alan Ritchson) burdened by guilt and grief after losing his brother (Jai Courtney) during an overseas mission.

Two years later, he’s determined to find redemption by training for an elite Army Ranger unit alongside much younger candidates. He wants a second chance to carry one of them “across the line.”

While he rises to the top in every competition, his superiors worry that he seems too aloof and withdrawn, and they question his motives. “Even the most powerful machines have their limits, and I think you’ve reached yours,” scowls the commanding officer (Dennis Quaid).

However, he refuses to quit, and is assigned an engineer role with a squad leader (Stephan James) for a grueling field exercise, Against the backdrop of a giant meteor splintering apart as it hurtles toward Earth, their operation becomes much more perilous than expected.

War Machine gains some early traction as a contemplative character study of a wayward man struggling for purpose and obsessed with seeking catharsis and redemption, thanks to a thoughtful portrayal by Ritchson (“Reacher”).

However, the screenplay co-written by director Patrick Hughes (The Hitman’s Bodyguard) otherwise lacks much emotional depth or thematic complexity. Any sense of gritty, boots-on-the-ground authenticity is compromised by wooden dialogue, lazy genre tropes, and thinly sketched characters.

When it transitions into more of a Predator-style survival thriller in the second half, it features a handful of competent effects-driven set pieces, such as a harrowing attempt to traverse across a raging river without stranding an incapacitated colleague.

Still, even for those willing to ignore how ridiculous the film becomes during the buildup to its climactic confrontation, or the minimal subtlety or surprise with which it all plays out, such excitement is fleeting.

Rated R, 106 minutes.