Film Talk: Will Poulter leads the charge in Warfare

When Will Poulter first appeared on the silver screen he was the tender age of only 14, yet even then his talent shone.

As wild child Lee Carter, Poulter dazzled opposite mild-mannered co-star Bill Milner, and his career soon took off in earnest with roles in the Chronicles of Narnia and Maze Runner franchises.

Bringing the laughs in We’re The Millers, Poulter helped bring the bleak drama opposite Tom Hardy and Leo DiCaprio in The Revenant. In no time at all he was carving his mark into the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Guardians of the Galaxy antagonist Adam Warlock and also joining the Black Mirror alumni.

This year, Poulter has been a very busy boy indeed, starring in Death of a Unicorn (only released a couple of weeks ago) and now leading the charge in new action drama, Warfare.

Written and directed by Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland, this one is based on Mendoza's experiences during the Iraq War as a US Navy SEAL, with the film being a re-enactment of an encounter he and his platoon experienced in 2006 in the wake of the Battle of Ramadi.

Co-starring D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Cosmo Jarvis, Kit Connor, Finn Bennett, Joseph Quinn and Charles Melton, this one is pitching to be the war drama of the week and will doubtlessly see Easter audiences out in droves. Yet, it is of course not the only new release of the week.

Starring British acting royalty Steve Coogan and Johnathan Pryce, The Penguin Lessons is hoping to pull in the comedy-drama crowd.

And with Ryan Coogler back in cahoots with Michael B. Jordan, Sinners is making a play for April’s supernatural horror crown.

It’s a lovely mixed bag for the bank holiday weekend, and with the sunshine having subsided, it seems that the only thing for us to do is get comfy, get the chocolate out and dive in to some good ol’ hearty flicks.

Let’s do this...

​WARFARE (UK 15/ROI 15A, 96 mins) ****

Released: April 18 (UK & Ireland)

War is hell – sickening, relentlessly brutal hell – in Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland’s bravura snapshot of bloodstained brotherhood during conflict.

Based on Mendoza’s minute-by-minute recollections of a real-life 2006 mission during the Battle of Ramadi and forensic interviews with his former US Navy Seal team, this real-time drama is a physically and psychologically gruelling assault on the senses.

Award-winning sound designer Glenn Freemantle takes no prisoners and seems grimly determined to split open skulls with a blitzkrieg of mortars and bullets scything through masonry and khaki-clad flesh.

Warfare is an intense, visceral experience that delivers repeated hammer blows to the cranium.

When an improvised explosive device (IED) detonates unexpectedly, bloodcurdling screams of injured soldiers are muffled to replicate blast-induced hearing loss.

A sudden disconnect between the wooliness of what we hear and the horrific, stomach-churning vividness of what we see is eerily powerful and disorienting.

Volume gradually returns to eardrum-piercing levels, and with it, our discomfort.

Imagery is equally unsettling: ragdoll-like broken legs covered in phosphorus burns catch on wall corners as heaving bodies are dragged to temporary safety, appendages severed from torsos lay forlornly in the dirt.

Flag-waving patriotism still serves with pride but a bombastic glorification of war goes awol before the first shot is fired.

In November 2006, Navy Seal team Alpha One led by Captain Eric (Will Poulter) gains access to an apartment building under the cover of darkness, accompanied by two Iraqi scouts, Sidar (Heider Ali) and Farid (Nathan Altai).

Residents are held hostage as soldiers assume surveillance positions on the building’s second floor.

Insurgents are alerted to the Americans’ presence and throw a grenade into one room, badly injuring sniper and medic Elliott Miller (Cosmo Jarvis).

Communications officer Ray Mendoza (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai) requests emergency evacuation of the wounded: “Look for the blood and the smoke. We’re there.” Unfortunately, the extraction results in further casualties including leading petty officer Sam (Joseph Quinn). Pinned down inside the building, Eric and his men, including sniper Frank (Taylor John Smith), gunner Tommy (Kit Connor) and point man Aaron (Henrique Zaga), trade fire with advancing Iraqis as they await reinforcements from Alpha Two led by Officer in Charge Jake Wayne (Charles Melton).

Warfare dazzles and discombobulates with its technical virtuosity but there is scant time to get to know the vast ensemble of characters.

A platoon of bright young things from Britain and Hollywood, who underwent three weeks of training prior to filming, compete valiantly with the cacophony.

It’s a losing battle but Mendoza and Garland’s picture ultimately grinds out a Pyrrhic victory of broken hearts over shell-shocked minds.

THE PENGUIN LESSONS (UK 12A/ROI 12A, 112 mins) ***

Released: April 18 (UK & Ireland)

Penguins are among a vibrant class of flightless birds. Fittingly, this gently paced, comedy drama from The Full Monty’s Oscar-nominated director, Peter Cattaneo, flaps its wings but fails to achieve lift-off.

Based on Tom Michell’s memoir, The Penguin Lessons follows a muddled curriculum of genre staples: the unconventional teacher who inspires dismissive students to academic excellence, mismatched buddies who seek common ground on a haphazard road trip, and a mischievous animal who coaxes a cold-hearted human out of their shell.

Cattaneo’s picture frames this hotchpotch with turbulent events in 1976 Argentina, when a coup d’etat displaced Isabel Peron as President.

Thousands of impassioned opponents to the newly installed military regime vanished without trace.

Screenwriter Jeff Pope previously collaborated with actor Steve Coogan on Philomena, Stan & Ollie and The Lost King.

Both men are more comfortable with comedy than meaty political discourse, evidenced when the bumbling British educator fails to correctly referee a rugby match between Argentine students and wearily quips: “I prefer my balls round.”

Strain is visible when subject matter turns deadly serious and Coogan is asked to singlehandedly bear the emotional weight of scenes saturated with guilt and grief.

Those tonal coin tosses between comedy and heartrending tragedy become more jarring as the picture waddles into its challenging second hour.

English teacher Tom Michell (Coogan) arrives in 1976 Buenos Aires to take up a position at St George’s College under by-the-book headmaster Buckle (Jonathan Pryce).

Tom will be shaping the minds of privileged teenage boys and is instructed to keep any opinions to himself to avoid drawing unwanted attention to the private school.

During a vacation in Punta Del Este in Uruguay with science teacher Tapio (Bjorn Gustafsson), Tom tries to impress a woman (Mica Breque) by rescuing a stricken penguin from an oil slick on a beach.

The rejuvenated bird bonds with the Englishman and he returns to Argentina with the penguin concealed in a bag, casually ignoring the “no smoking and no pets” policy for school staff.

The animal becomes an unofficial mascot for enraptured students but reality gatecrashes the reverie when school cleaner Sofia (Alfonsina Carrocio) is snatched off the street by the military regime and her grandmother, Maria (Vivian El Jaber), who also works at St George’s, seeks the truth about Sofia’s potentially tragic fate.

The Penguin Lessons does not teach us anything new or surprising about murky facets of human behaviour or the political volatility in 1970s South America when anguished cries from families of the “disappeared” went unanswered.

The titular bird scene-steals with aplomb as Coogan tentatively confronts his character’s reluctance to act when confronted with injustice.

Archive footage over the end credits achieves a teary-eyed wistfulness and piercing emotional clarity that eludes Cattaneo’s dramatisation.

SINNERS (UK 15/ROI 16, 138 mins) ***

Released: April 18 (UK & Ireland)

Ryan Coogler, award-winning director of Fruitvale Station, the Black Panther films and Creed, reunites with actor Michael B Jordan for a 1930s-set supernatural horror thriller.

Twin brothers Smoke and Stack (Jordan) are determined to leave the upheaval of the past where it belongs.

The siblings return to their hometown of Clarksdale in the south and Smoke and Stack quickly discover that an insidious evil has taken root among their friends and neighbours.

Creatures of the night led by the menacing Remmick (Jack O’Connell), who possess the power to rejuvenate the sickly with one bite, lurk in the shadows. Smoke and Stack lead the resistance against this insidious infection alongside plucky townsfolk including Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), Mary (Hailee Steinfeld) and Sammie (Miles Caton).

FREAKY TALES (UK 15/ROI 15A TBC, 107 mins) ***

Released: April 18 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)

Pedro Pascal, Ben Mendelsohn, Jay Ellis and Tom Hanks lend star power to four interconnected stories set in 1987 Oakland, California, written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck.

The anthology begins with Strength In Numbers: The Gilman Strikes Back detailing the aftermath of a vicious attack on an underground punk club.