Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza’s ‘Warfare’ – instant Oscar predictions
In a year thus far that has had a dearth of awards contenders — although let’s pencil down A Minecraft Movie for a nomination at the Golden Globes for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement — Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza’s Warfare might be the first theatrical release pundits need to take seriously as a potential Oscar nominee. The searing war drama has hit with critics, with a 91 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and drawn comparisons to past Oscar nominees like Black Hawk Down and Saving Private Ryan. Here are the categories in which Warfare will most likely compete next year.
Best Sound
Even before the Academy combined Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing into a single sound category, war movies typically excelled with the Academy’s sound branch. In the last 20 years, several war movies have landed sound nominations and/or wins, including The Hurt Locker, War Horse, Zero Dark Thirty, Lone Survivor, American Sniper, Unbroken, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, Hacksaw Ridge, Dunkirk, 1917, Greyhound, and All Quiet on the Western Front. It’s easy to imagine Warfare following suit. The fact-based movie is a real-time thriller about a skirmish during the Iraq War in 2006 that left several Navy SEALs critically injured. In bringing the memories of the surviving soldiers to theatrical life, Garland and Mendoza, a former Navy SEAL who is a character in the movie (played by D’Pharoah Woon-a-Tai), use sound — and a lack thereof — to unmoor the audience. In the movie’s early stages, the tension is almost unbearable thanks to the relative silence of the surroundings; once an IED explodes, Warfare kicks into another gear. Garland and Mendoza immerse the audience into the battle through sound — whether the pop of gunfire, the deafening roar of a fighter jet, or the screams of agony from a fallen soldier. (Joseph Quinn likely won’t receive an individual acting nomination for his performance in Warfare — the movie is a broad ensemble piece — but if the sound team is Oscar-nominated next year, Quinn deserves a bit of thanks for providing some of the most agnozing screams of pain heard in a movie in recent history.)
Best Visual Effects
Alex Garland isn’t necessarily considered a visual-effects guy like other filmmakers. However, one of his four movies before Warfare won Best Visual Effects (Ex Machina) at the Oscars, and the visual effects branch shortlisted another (Civil War). So it’s safe to assume some recognition for the Warfare visual effects, even if it winds up befalling a similar fate as Civil War, which failed to convert its shortlist mention into an Oscar bid. Regardless of its eventual awards outcome, Warfare is another example of how Garland’s visual effects teams lend a sense of reality to his projects.
Best Editing
Keep an eye on Fin Oates, an editor primarily known for television work on shows like I Hate Suzie and Bad Sisters. Warfare is only her second feature after the award-winning How to Have Sex, and it is a masterclass of tension, pacing, and spatial awareness. It’s never unclear where things are happening in the film, and Oates balances the several characters with aplomb, allowing the audience to have little beats and moments with each soldier. The editing category is typically tough to crack for non-Best Picture nominees — Tick, Tick… Boom; I, Tonya; Baby Driver; and Star Wars: The Force Awakens are the only movies to land Best Editing bids without Best Picture in the last decade — but Oates is one to watch depending on how the rest of the year shakes out.
Best Picture
Unless Oates doesn’t have to worry about that historical precedent. Warfare is a Best Picture dark horse for A24, and several significant projects are set to arrive in theaters over the next eight months. Still, if the Oscar nominations were announced today, Warfare would be one of the 10 Best Picture nominees. That doesn’t mean much, and it is hard to imagine Warfare holding firm for the rest of the year. However, if several presumed awards contenders flame out, voters may return to the unforgettable war drama and technical achievement that Garland and Mendoza crafted.