Movies
‘War Machine’ Starring Alan Ritchson Getting a Sequel at Netflix
Released on Netflix back in March of this year, the science fiction action movie War Machine starring Alan Ritchson has proven to be a massive hit, and it’s now getting a sequel.
Deadline reports that Patrick Hughes (The Hitman’s Bodyguard, The Expendables 3) will return to direct War Machine 2 for Netflix, with Alan Ritchson likely returning to star.
The outlet notes, “Since bowing on March 26, War Machine has reached 139 million views on Netflix, making it one of the top ten most popular original films to ever bow on the streamer.”
In War Machine, during the final stage of US Army Ranger selection, an elite team’s training exercise turns into a fight for survival against an unimaginable threat.
Alan Ritchson stars with Dennis Quaid, Stephan James, Jai Courtney, Esai Morales, Blake Richardson, Keiynan Lonsdale, and Daniel Webber.
Patrick Hughes will co-write War Machine 2 with James Beaufort.
Greg McLean (Wolf Creek) is on board to produce.
Paul Le wrote in his review of War Machine for Bloody Disgusting, “It just goes to show how influential a movie like Predator is—we’re still getting imitations all these years later. This new clash between military brawn and extraterrestrial precision gets points for simply going bigger with its alien antagonist, but nearly everything else in this movie is underwhelming.”
“War Machine doesn’t have to be the next Predator, but surely it could have been more entertaining,” Le adds in his review. “It’s bordering on lifeless and takes itself too seriously.”
The trailer for Ti West’s upcoming adaptation of A Christmas Carol raised a lot of eyebrows when it dropped earlier this week. While plenty of folks initially dismissed Ebenezer as a derivative project meant to cash in on the recent wave of unnecessary prequels that expand the backstory of beloved characters (such as 2023’s Wonka), Charles Dickens’ original novel already made a point of exploring Ebenezer Scrooge’s origins in detail – meaning that this new film is likely just a particularly faithful adaptation of the source material under a different name.
Couple that with the fact that the movie is being helmed by a genuine horror auteur and I think it’s safe to say that the latest iteration of the first modern ghost story is in good hands.
That being said, one detail that immediately jumped out at me during the brief teaser (other than a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nod to Johnny Depp’s iconic bedroom death scene from the original A Nightmare on Elm Street) is the fact that many of Ebenezer’s ghosts appear to have been directly lifted from the iconic John Leech illustrations that accompanied the first edition of Dickens’ novel.
Here are a couple of stills from the trailer compared to the original artwork:
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
The Phantoms in ‘A Christmas Carol’ and ‘Ebenezer’
Marley’s Ghost in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
Mainly working with old-school wood and steel engravings that would later be transferred to print, Leech was instrumental in crafting the iconic look of history’s most influential phantoms – especially since Dickens is said to have been deeply involved with the creation of these so-called “comic illustrations.”
And since the novel is commonly said to have popularized spiritualism in Victorian England, much of the ghostly iconography that we still see in genre media to this very day (including some of Ti West’s previous films) can be traced back to the author’s partnership with Leech.
Ebenezer won’t be the first A Christmas Carol adaptation to borrow heavily from these designs, but I can appreciate how Ti West is incorporating an important part of horror history into his latest film.
Ebenezer will be available in theaters starting November 13.
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