War Machine (2026 film)

War Machine is a 2026 science fiction action film directed, co-produced, and co-written by Patrick Hughes. It stars Alan Ritchson, Dennis Quaid, Stephan James, Jai Courtney, Esai Morales, Keiynan Lonsdale, and Daniel Webber.

The film was given a very limited theatrical release (five weeks, maximum 52 theatres) in Australia starting on February 12, 2026, before releasing on Netflix on March 6. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, praising it as a fun, old-school, throwback action movie despite its familiar, formulaic storyline.

In Afghanistan, an unnamed Staff Sergeant arrives to help his brother's broken-down convoy. His brother tries to convince him that they should apply to become Army Rangers, when they are attacked by Taliban insurgents. Everyone is killed except the Sergeant, who suffers a severe knee injury. He tries to carry his mortally wounded brother back to base but passes out before making it. When he wakes up in the hospital, he learns that his brother had already died, but he is awarded the Silver Star.

Two years later, the Sergeant attends RASP to earn assignment to a battalion of the consolidated 75th Ranger Regiment, and is given the candidate number of 81. 81 excels at training but does not bond with his fellow recruits and refuses the role of team leader, despite his record. After he allows himself to nearly drown during an underwater exercise, regiment leaders Sergeant Major Sheridan and First Sergeant Torres question his mental state due to his PTSD and insist he step down from the program to recuperate, but 81 refuses. Sheridan and Torres allow him to advance and assign him team leader for the final exercise, a simulated mission in the forest to destroy a classified aircraft and rescue its pilot. Around that time, reports come out of a suspected asteroid flying past the planet and breaking off in pieces.

During the exercise, the team is startled by an unknown blast from the sky, which knocks out communications. They find a strange-looking object by the creek, which the team believes to be the classified aircraft. After detonating it with explosives, it remains undamaged and transforms into a walking machine that starts targeting and killing the team; they are unable to fight back as they are carrying blank rounds. 81's second-in-command 7's leg is severely broken and wounded, forcing the other recruits to carry him. After the attack, only 81, 7, 15, 44, 60, 109, 122 and 23 are left alive. The machine affects the magnetism of their compasses, allowing them to sense when it is near. After escaping down river, they reach the cadre posing as the enemy force as part of the Death March and find they have been eliminated by the machine. Seeing traces of impact from a distant mountaintop to the valley below, they deduce the machine is extraterrestrial and try to make it back to base in an ASV. As the machine gives chase, the team finds live ammunition but discovers its armor is impenetrable. While 81 subdues the machine with a rockslide, the ASV is destroyed, with only 81 and 7 left alive.

After seeing the machine send up a mysterious signal into space, 81 takes 7 into the forest. 7 reveals that he knew 81's brother. 81 realizes that the machine has a ventilation system and lures it towards a construction site. 81 pours small rocks into the ventilation system, causing the machine to overheat and explode. 81 successfully makes it back to a destroyed base with 7. Sheridan and Torres reveal that the suspected asteroid was actually an army of machines and they have started a global war with humankind. When 81 reveals the machines' ventilation system weakness, he is accepted into the 75th Ranger Regiment and is assigned to lead the next assault against the machines.

In addition, the other two to survive until at least the village are Alex King as 44 and Jack Patten as 109, while Patrick Hughes – the film's producer / co-writer / director – has a cameo as Master Sergeant Hughes, in the film-ending Blackhawk scene.

In November 2021, Patrick Hughes had been hired to write and direct an action science fiction film titled War Machine at Lionsgate, with Alan Ritchson cast in the lead role. In September 2024, Dennis Quaid, Stephan James, Jai Courtney, Esai Morales, Keiynan Lonsdale, and Daniel Webber rounded out the cast of the film, with Netflix acquiring the distribution rights from Lionsgate.

Principal photography began on September 16, 2024, in Victoria, Australia and Queenstown, New Zealand with Aaron Morton serving as the cinematographer. Filming wrapped on December 14, 2024.

Dmitri Golovko composed the score for the film.

War Machine was given a very limited theatrical release in Australia on February 12, 2026, with a five week run at no more than 52 theatres. Its main release, to world markets, was on Netflix on March 6.

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 69% of 62 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Providing Alan Ritchson an ideal vehicle to flex his brawny charisma, War Machine occasionally clanks when it comes to character depth but otherwise soldiers on to deliver an awesome dose of action spectacle." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 54 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.

Following the positive reception to War Machine, Alan Ritchson expressed interest in reprising his lead role in future installments. The actor stated that there is currently "tons" of story material in place for follow-up movies, while referring to a sequel as "War Machines"; while writer/director Patrick Hughes in the joint-interview confirmed that he has a larger story-arc for sequels should they be greenlit. In another interview Hughes stated that while the first film was created standalone, he intends that the movie's ending could create a franchise.

• War Machine at IMDb