Netflix Review - Outside The Wire (2021)

War. What is it really good for? We all know the answer to that, of course, but as the days tick on in this crazy couple of years, the future of any conflicts are becoming scarier and scarier with every passing day. Much was made of the tension between East and West a year or two ago over our favourite friend’s “nuclear weapons” but perhaps scariest of all is that the prophecies of technological war may well be our greatest threat. We’ve all seen Terminator, right? While the films became more frightening than the future it depicted, the core of the idea still sends chills: will the machines that are sworn to protect us rise up and decimate us?

Such notions are, of course, prime narratives for sci-fi fare and many have tried to replicate the notions of James Cameron’s film – and many others – and Outside the Wire perpetuates similar ideals: would an AI-enhanced breed of human/cyborg entities, created to protect, strike us down after they saw the many errors of our ways? Said enhanced human here is Leo (Anthony Mackie), a high-ranking yet secret army officer who is off the books to all but a couple of people. He is teamed with shamed drone pilot Harp (Damson Idris) to head into enemy lines to locate a nuclear weapon before a group of insurgents, who have ravaged parts of the world in a brutal war, gets there first.

So far, so familiar: while there is some pleasing action set pieces here and a propulsive story, Outside the Wire, sadly brings nothing new to the table that we haven’t seen before and done a lot better. It is, though, a decent vehicle for Mackie and his continued ascension up actor ranks, something a little different before he dons the red, white, and blue as our new Captain America in the MCU. He’s his usual charming and funny self throughout with plenty of opportunities to get his hands dirty, even if he doesn’t need to break a sweat in doing so.

Director Mikael Hafstrom (Bloodline) has a good handle on the more rambunctious moments, bringing a sweaty, bruising muscular approach that plays well to the film’s strengths but, if you dig deeper, there isn’t much to latch on to. It talks about perpetuating war and the United States’ continued need to be involved and control everything around the war, as well as the arms race and the exacerbating nature of the media, but like its story, it’s nothing that hasn’t been discussed much more succinctly and with more bite in other places.

All that’s left to say is that, like many of its predecessors, Outside the Wire is your typical Netflix action fare: lots of gung-ho, crash, bang, wallop for your buck but not much going under the hood to get in its way. Instantly forgettable fare.