War Machine 2 Is Happening on Netflix—But It Deserves the Big Screen

One of Netflix’s most-watched movies is getting a sequel despite mixed reviews. War Machine 2 is incoming, whose franchise starter gained an IMDb rating of 6.3 and a Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score of 66%.

According to JoBlo, Patrick Hughes is returning to direct a War Machine sequel whose original gained 39.3 million views on Netflix in its first week of release. Now, the film is added to the top 10 most popular movies on the streaming platform of all time.​

The confirmation has come for Hughes co-writing the script alongside James Beaufort, and produced by Todd Lieberman through his Hidden Pictures partners. Valerie Bleth Sharp will be the executive producer.  ​

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What is War Machine 2 about?

Hughes has opened up about what direction the sequel would take. He revealed that the original gave vibes of those 70s and 80s films where people would ask after an ambiguous ending, “Why did you leave me there?”​

The director aims to answer the same questions that were left at the end of War Machine. He promises to lay it on the table about the machines and whether they were aliens themselves, or if they were controlled by a person sitting inside, or if they were entirely controlled by other aliens from another planet.​

He plans to take the sequel forward by focusing on,​

“I think more than anything, people want to know – What is [Ritchson’s] name? Where are they from? What do they want? What is happening? Because that micro to the macro, I think, is really interesting, because audiences get so attuned to going.” [Source]​

War Machine was about a team of the toughest Army Rangers who are sent on a training exercise where they encounter an unprecedented danger in the form of an alien destruction machine. The elite soldiers’ team is put to the test, where Alan Ritchson played the recruit number 81. The recruits were without their names, and they were only to be called out by their recruitment numbers.​

The viewers were left with several questions, though, for example, what was the alien machine doing on Earth? What does it want? And was the machine acting on its own or a scout for a much larger force? As the end of War Machine left us with Soldier 81 boarding the helicopter to join “Operation Global Shield” in order to fight off a massive, worldwide invasion by possibly thousands more alien robots, we could expect a much more thrilling ride in the next installment.​

It could be much cooler if the robots’ machinery were upgraded with a wider array of physical abilities to attack. It was a hair-raising ride to watch a single predator take over the entire team, likely on a mission to wipe out the world. In an 80s-style action movie, a lone human soldier overcomes such an overwhelming threat.​

Above all, War Machine 2 deserves a theatrical release because of the scale of its story. The explosive military fights surely need a cinematic opening, and the large-scale destruction would be more impactful in the cinema. The immersive sound and spectacle would amplify the excitement as compared to a home setup. 

Is Alan Ritchson in the War Machine sequel?​

It is not officially confirmed whether Ritchson would join the cast of its sequel. However, the film would be incomplete without him, as we have seen him as the last person to board the helicopter to set off on a new and much bigger adventure. Being the only courageous person to kill the deadly robot, the audience would be in favor of his comeback.

Ritchson was amazing in the Reacher series, and given his mind-blowing performance in the inaugural chapter, he appears to be a natural choice. His character’s familiarity built a strong connection with the audience; his commanding build is well-suited to a larger and more ambitious story.