Warfare is an 2025 war movie from A24, and it looks like the perfect spiritual prequel to a $122 million A24 hit from earlier this year. Acclaimed director and writer Alex Garland is teaming up with real-life Iraq War veteran Ray Mendoza to tell a story based on Mendoza's actual experiences in the war, with the duo directing and writing the film together. The first trailer for Warfare is already out, and it is shaping up to be one of A24's most exciting films in 2025.

While Warfare is unique due to Ray Mendoza's involvement in the film, it actually isn't the first time that Alex Garland has delved into the war genre. In fact, Alex Garland directed A24's Civil War, an acclaimed war movie that came out earlier in 2024. Many parallels have already been drawn between Warfare and Civil War, with Alex Garland's new war movie acting as the perfect spiritual prequel to his 2024 outing.

Warfare Is Showing A Different Side Of War Than Civil War Did

Warfare Is Based On A Real War

One of the reasons why Civil War was so great was its perspective, with it exploring a rarely-seen point-of-view that is integral to the war experience. Rather than focusing on the soldiers, Civil War focused on war journalists, with Civil War's cast of main characters using cameras as their weapons rather than guns. Civil War explored the ethics and politics of war journalism, with the film's fictional civil war being designed to give this message a platform.

Alex Garland is now looking at the other side of war with his new film, with Warfare focusing on soldiers rather than on the war journalists. The first trailer for Warfare shows that the movie will follow a small group of soldiers who are attempting to escape some sort of town in the Iraq War, with the scope of Warfare seemingly not being much bigger than this. Warfare will now allow audiences to get Alex Garland's opinion on another facet of war, with the film dealing with those who actually fight.

Warfare Is A Continuation Of Civil War's Portrayal Of War

They Both Use A Similar Lens

One of the most controversial parts about A24's Civil War was its handling of the film's politics. Despite Civil War being about a fictional war, the film gave very little context about what led up to the war, with it instead dropping viewers into the middle of things. Some audience weren't fans of this approach, with many wanting Civil War to have a much broader scope that explores how the world of the film got to this point.

Warfare seems to be taking a similar approach, with it focusing on only a few soldiers rather than those in power who make the decisions regarding the war. While this may end up being more controversial due to the Iraq War being real, it signals that Alex Garland may be attempting this trick once again in Warfare.