Outside the Wire (2021)

Netflix’s first original film of the year is the sci-fi thriller Outside the Wire. Before any comments, let’s set the scene.

The year is 2036, and a destructive civil war has broken out in the middle of Eastern Europe. Not too much is revealed, only that US forces were deployed to Russia to act as peacekeepers. Oh, there are also “Gumps,” which essentially are robotic soldiers. During the fast-paced opening act, drone pilot Lieutenant Harp (Damson Idris) disobeys a direct order, killing two teenage Marines.

Harp faces the consequences of his actions, traveling to Camp Nathaniel (a deadly warzone) to experience war first-hand. There, he is assigned to work with android combat soldier Captain Leo (Anthony Mackie). As the two embark on a mission to take down terrorist Victor Koval (Pilou Asbæk), things arise that shift the film and eventually pit Harp and Leo against each other.

Overall, Outside the Wire is, unfortunately, a forgettable film. Directed with a sense of chaos by Mikael Håfström, and from a script by Rowan Athale and Rob Yescombe, the film is rough. I found it to be unnecessarily long and quite messy at times. There were tons of scenes depicting war that involved explosions of gunfire, but that can’t be the only thing keeping you engaged — there needs to be depth and substance, which was nonexistent in this film.

Though the film always exhibits high energy and quick movement, some moments are slow to rise. Viewers have to wait almost an hour until they finally see what Leo is capable of, which is a total beat-down on opponents. Also, similar to Netflix’sThe King, this movie takesforeverto introduce the audience to the antagonist; in this case, that is Viktor Koval. With approximately forty minutes left to spare of the movie, we finally see him in the flesh. How ridiculous is that? We’ve heard about him the entire movie, yet we onlyjustmeet him at the end. My question is, why build him up as this big and bad guy when he barely has any screen time? I guess he wasn’t such an integral part after all.