Outside The Wire

Ok, the first big action film of the year has hit Netflix. This is just what we need right now, a dose of adrenaline and carnage to rile us up, to slap us about the head and shake us awake. Futuristic fun headlined by an Avenger and one of England's brightest new talents. Sure you couldn't go wrong. Could you?  

The year is 2036. The yanks are at war. Again. This time in Eastern Europe. The place is decimated, one big humanitarian crisis. Alongside the human soldiers are robotic warrior know as Gumps and above them are missile carrying drones ready to fire at a minute's notice. Piloting one of these drones is Lieutenant Thomas Harp (Damson Idris) and one faithful night a decision he makes in the heat of battle gets him thrown from his cushy office number out to the frontline. Here he has to team up with Leo (Anthony Mackie), an android soldier who knows the lay of the land outside the wire, for a secret mission.

One meme worthy moment involving a flagpole aside you won't remember much about Outside The Wire when its over. It's a dull, drab war porn with a side order of techno fetishism. There's an anti war message in there somewhere but as with all war films that try to be anti war the message is blunted by a succession of action scenes that do nothing but glamourise gunplay. Watch as Leo uses his flashy moves to take down an atrium full of faceless bad guys, headshotting his merry way along, try to figure out what's going on as robots on opposing sides blast each other apart in oddly tidy looking European streets, glare as Leo goes to work again in a courtyard full of scum and villainy deploying techniques John Woo and Chow Yun Fat decried as old hat 29 years ago. 

I hate being hard on films but jesus Netflix isn't even trying lately. There's nothing original here at all. It's Training Day by way of Call Of Duty : Advanced Warfare with a spoonful of the Terminator swirled through. It's action scenes are marred by CGI explosions and CGI blood splatter, it's dialogue is trite and cliched, the bad guy (Pilou Asbæk) makes no impact whatsoever and worst of all, you'll see the ending coming from a mile away as our good guys learn life lessons and realise what's really important to them. Ok, credit where credit it due it does try to impart wisdom concerning humanity vs technology, painfully bluntly in places, but any meaning is lost eventually in clouds of computer generated smoke and dust. 

Mackie and Idris deserve better than this. How often, outside of the Bad Boys franchise, do you get to see two black actors headlining a big action film? Shamefully it's a very rare occurrence. 25 years in the future their skin colour isn't an issue. It's a pity Hollywood can't be like that now.

Outside The Wire is showing on Netflix from today.