Aahana Swrup
The Patrick Hughes sci-fi action film ‘War Machine’ is an intense thriller in which soldiers training for a special ops program take on an enemy they’re woefully unprepared to face. The story centers around a soldier who lost his brother during an earlier deployment. Since then, he has grown obsessed with joining the elite military force, RASP, and becoming a Ranger. On his fourth and final application to the program, soldier number 81 makes it all the way to the final test: The Death March. He and his fellow infantry members are dropped in the middle of the woods, where they have to finish a high-stakes mission. However, during the test, neither 81 nor his fellow soldiers expected to run into an inexplicably advanced killing machine. With communications down and a homicidal robot on their tails, 81 must pull his squad together to ensure their survival and the survival of possibly the entire planet. SPOILERS AHEAD!
War Machine Plot Synopsis
81 and his young brother, a fellow soldier, have always dreamed about applying to be RASP rangers together and being a part of the revered 75th Ranger Regiment. Nonetheless, over the years, the older brother’s interest in the pipe dream has evaporated, content with his current station. One day, after 81 and his crew drive out to assist his brother’s battalion with a tranportational malfunction. During that encounter, the latter convinces the other soldier to fulfill their childhood dreams by applying for the selection program with him. Nonetheless, their best-laid plans are laid to waste when an unforeseen attack by the Taliban wipes out the entire battalion. 81 emerges as the only survivor of the event. Yet, instead of taking some time off to grieve his brother, the soldier instantly sets his sights on his next mission: becoming a Ranger.
Despite his knee injury, 81 continues to apply to the program, each time rejected due to medical reasons, until eventually, on his fifth time, he manages to get selected. In the weeks that follow, the soldier throws himself into the assessment program, managing to survive the culling each week. However, he notably runs from any leadership positions and continues isolating himself from the rest of the applicants. Even when rumors spread about his accident in Afghanistan, which earned him a Silver Star medal, he refuses to socialize with the other soldiers. In the last week before the Death March, when 81 pushes himself too far and directly puts his life at risk, it draws the attention of the superior Sergeants. As a result, the First Sergeant tries to advise him to sign a quit slip to take a respectable leave from the program.
Even so, 81 refuses to back down, insisting that he hasn’t done anything to be disqualified from the program just yet. For the same reason, the higher-ups decided to teach him a lesson by assigning him he team leader role during the Death March, forcing him to work with his fellow soldiers. Initially, he makes for a terrible leader, lacking in inspiring speeches and personal touches, which have to be filled in by number 7, the de facto leader of the group. Nonetheless, things are relatively smooth sailing until their first night in the wild. The next morning, they prepare to attack the jet, as instructed, without being ambushed by their sergeant. However, to their horror, their attempts to do so lead to a dangerous discovery. As it turns out, the high-tech ship they had assumed to be a part of the training simulation is actually an unidentified machine.
The machine, when disturbed, turns into a giant killer robot. When the robot first attacks the squad, confusion and chaos lead to the loss of many lives and one broken leg for 7. This pushes 81 to take on a more tangible leadership role, assessing the threat of the ship and coming up with the plan to reach the Sergeant’s village and get help. He knows that the robot’s superior technology makes his and his squad’s empty-shelled guns useless. Therefore, he tries ot focus solely on camouflage and survival. Another tragedy strikes the team when they realize that the sergeant’s village, along with most high-ranking officers, has already been obliterated by the robot. Thus, they decide to commandeer one of the tanks in the hopes of bringing the news of the killer robot to the military and saving many lives. Unfortunately, this endeavor ultimately leaves only 81 and 7 alive, against a seemingly unbeatable enemy.
War Machine Ending: Where Did the Killing Machine Come From?
Initially, the narrative seems to be a story about a soldier’s pursuit of a victory that is greatly informed by the traumas of his past. However, after the discovery of the killing machine, the narrative takes a swift turn into the aisle of a survival drama. The machine, equipped with scanning technology and numerous firearms, can find humans and lay them to waste, which seems to be its primary function. Yet, the question of its motives remains. Many of the soldiers, especially 15, the conspiracy theory enthusiast, wonder if it could be an internal experiment or a hostile attack by a foreign nation. However, the truth turns out to be much more outlandish.
Throughout the eight-week-long assessment program, 81 and the other soldiers come across news reports about a mysterious asteroid in the sky. Apparently, this asteroid is the driving force behind the killing machine. Around the same time that the squad embarks on the Death March simulation test, the asteroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere before breaking into countless parts. These parts are actually all killer robots that seem to have been deployed in different regions of the planet. Across countries, the machines have been wreaking havoc, killing civilians and defense members alike. Their objective seems to be simple enough: the complete annihilation of humanity.
Initially, 81 and the others’ disconnected state prevent them from discovering the broader truth surrounding the killing machine. Nonetheless, by the end, the soldier discovers the fact that NASA’s interstellar imaging confirms that an armada of other such celestial objects, previously assumed to be asteroids, is on its way to Earth. Although the film never provides a larger context for this invasion, the gist of it seems clear enough. An alien species has found Earth and has decided to invade the planet. For the same reason, an initial attack firing line, made up of killer robots, has been sent to various populated regions in order to weaken humanity’s defenses and make the planet available for taking.
How Does 81 Stop the Alien Machine? Does He Die?
Initially, the killing machine remains a singular danger to 81 and his squad, who are oblivious to similar horrors unfolding in other parts of the world. Nonetheless, the team struggles to put up any significant fight against the mechanical beast, especially as they remains without any weapons for defense or attack. Even when they manage to get their hands on a tank to expedite their travel to base and employ the help of ammunition, they barely manage to make a scratch on the robot. Instead, most of the soldiers, including 44, 15, 60, and others, die, picked off by one accident/targeted attack or another. Eventually, 81 finds himself all alone beside 7, whose injury makes him unable to put up any notable fight.
As 81 carries 7 with him, dragging him along in a makeshift gurney, they eventually manage to hide away in the thick of the woods. During this time, they have a moment to recuperate, reminisce, and calibrate. In a moment of silence, 81 notices a peculiar detail about the killing machine. It seems to be venting, airing out heat, which is probably being produced by the energy system powering the mechanical hull. This, paired with stories of his brothers’ bad luck with trucks, gives the soldier a genius idea. Fortunately, the fight has brought him and the robot out into the desert, home to a construction site.
81 draws the killing machine out to the site, where he employs the help of the bulldozer, using it as a heavy-duty opposing force against the robot. Using the construction vehicle, he pins the robot against a mountain, right under an asphalt dispenser. The machinery overflows, the robot’s venting panels with asphalt clogging up its inner hardware. This leads to the energy core in the machine to overheat and eventually result in a massive explosion, which decimates the robot. Once back on the base, 81 is able to share this information with the First Sergeant and the rest of the military, allowing them to exploit the machine’s weakness against it. Although we never get to see the result of this intel in action, one can only imagine that it helps humanity gain a huge advantage over the technologically advanced invaders.
Does 81 Become a RASP Ranger? Why Did He Want to Join the Program?
Even though the alien invasion informs a substantial aspect of the story, the overarching narrative centers around the personal journey the protagonist soldier 81 embarks on. His pursuit of recruitment into the program stems from his traumatic experience in Afghanistan. Two years ago, when the Taliban attacked 81’s brother’s battalion, it barely left any survivors. Yet, the two brothers managed to remain alive long enough that they could have realistically made their way to the American military base. Unfortunately, the younger brother was in no shape to be able to make the trek to the station himself. For the same reason, 81 attempted to carry his brother on his back all the way to the base despite his injured knee.
In the end, 81’s body gave up, leaving both brothers for the dead outside the perimeter. By the time other soldiers found them, the younger brother had already succumbed to his death. In the aftermath, 81 continued to blame himself for the incident, unable to forgive himself for not being strong enough to carry his brother over to the proverbial finish line. For the same reason, he becomes obsessed with becoming a Ranger and fulfilling his brother’s dreams. He discloses all of this to 7 after the latter reveals that he knew 81’s brother from serving beside him on another battalion. Later, after defeating the killing machine, 81 carries 7 over to the base, crossing the Death March’s finishing line in a metaphorically resonant moment. Ultimately, his bravery and commitment earn him the post of a RASP Ranger right as the military prepares for its biggest battle yet.
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