Anthony Mackie and Damson Idris shoulder an overlong yet serviceable action film that pushes an anti-war message in among familiar carnage
Can an action film with a bold anti-war message also trade off the vicarious thrill of watching numerous bullet-strewn battle scenes? It’s an uneasy question whose answer depends on execution, whether the moral argument has space to pierce through the mayhem. The serviceable new Netflix action thriller Outside the Wire doesn’t make an entirely convincing case (its focus is more on firepower than brainpower) but even a messily handled big idea is at least something in a genre most often lacking in them, especially on a platform that churns out mindless guff on a weekly basis.
Related: Locked Down review – Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor’s pandemic stinker
