Director: Dan Krauss
Writer: Dan Krauss (Screenplay)
Starring: Nat Wolff, Alexander Skarsgard, Adam Long, Jonathan Whitesell, Brian Marc, Osy Ikhile, Rob Morrow
Plot: A young American soldier in Afghanistan is disturbed by his commanding officer’s behavior and is faced with a moral dilemma.
Runtime: 1 Hour 27 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: The Kill Team starts as we meet Andrew Briggman (Wolff) a soldier looking to fight in Afghanistan, he is in a unit whose sergeant is killed, with the new Sergeant Deeks (Skarsgard) coming in to take control with a very different approach.
Briggman starts to question certain decisions that Deeks is making, showing the nonsense approach to dealing with enemy, one that will push Briggman to question his own decisions and whether he wants to remain on the frontline of hunting for the weapons makers.
Thoughts on The Kill Team
Characters – Andrew Briggman is the son of a desk marine, he wants to go and help out in the latest war in Afghanistan, where he must learn quickly that not everything is what he believed, he is faced with morale dilemmas once he learns the truth of how his new sergeant wants to handle the conflict, where he has no one he can turn to for help. Sergeant Deeks is the new sergeant that takes over after the death of the last, he comes in with a stricter approach to dealing with the enemy, but a more laidback approach to the men, he expects everything to run in the he expects it, wanting to continue his own numbers for saving American soldiers. We do meet the other soldiers in the unit which will have their own traits that we have seen before from the war genre of movies.
Performances – Nat Wolff in the leading role is the leading role is great showing us how he goes from the clueless soldier to a man on the edge that doesn’t know if this is what he wanted. Alexander Skarsgard is haunting as the Sergeant, he makes us question what he will do with each and every scene he is involved in.
Story – The story follows a young soldier that learns that war isn’t everything he thought it would be and is caught in the middle of dealing with a sergeant that will break the laws of war along with the rest of the unit. This story does show us just how conflicting war can become for the people fighting in it, showing us just how the lives of the young soldiers can be everything they never imagined and being left helpless in a conflict that isn’t even a war. It shows us just how this conflict isn’t anything it is meant to be, with people willing to take advantage of a position of power.
Action – The action isn’t big, it is basic military conflict, which is more about the actions the unit has caused over the time in war.
Settings – The film is set in Afghanistan where we get to see how the unit is willing to take advantage of the situation, using their position to get away with whatever they like.
Scene of the Movie – The nightmare.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – It never shows us the military in a good light.
Final Thoughts – The Kill Team is a brave look at how conflicted the people in the military can become when it comes to dealing with enemy, crossing too many lines along the way.
