Netflix Knows You Want to See Reacher Fight a Cybertruck

"Based on trailer views alone, the number of people in the world who want to see Reacher fight a Transformer that most frequently appears in the form of an ambulatory Cybertruck is as large as you'd suspected, if perhaps larger than you'd hoped. Credit the Amazon series, which has turned Ritchson into a star."

"There's a long-standing (and likely apocryphal) legend that Predator screenwriters Jim and John Thomas imagining Rocky Balboa in the ring with an alien was the seed from which their immortal creature feature sprung. Replace the Stan Winston-designed dreadhead from Predator with an alien battlebot, and War Machine '26 is what you get."

"The exception is Stephan James from If Beale Street Could Talk, who brings his steadying presence to the role of a Ranger candidate grievously wounded in the initial mêlée with the bot, requiring the ever-dwindling number of survivors to carry him; when the team has to figure out a way to get a gurney with James strapped to it across a river, War Machine's most thrilling set piece briefly gives way to some Weekend at Bernie's-style slapstick."

War Machine is a 2026 Netflix film starring Alan Ritchson as a leader guiding Army Rangers through their final Ranger-selection mission called "Death March" when an alien battlebot attacks. The film draws conceptual inspiration from Predator, pitting a team against an extraterrestrial threat. Stephan James plays a wounded Ranger candidate whose injury forces survivors to carry him through the mission, creating both dramatic tension and comedic moments, including a notable river-crossing sequence. While the film capitalizes on Ritchson's popularity from the Amazon Reacher series, the supporting cast lacks the memorable quality of classic action ensemble films, though James provides a steadying presence throughout.

Read at Vulture