'The Mosquito Bowl' Review: A Visceral, But Emotionally Stifled War Film
Netflix’s The Mosquito Bowl from director Peter Berg aims to be the next classic war film. Though it’s handsomely made and consistently thrilling, this period piece doesn’t have nearly enough emotional heft.
‘The Mosquito Bowl’, which is based on a true story, takes place after the events of Pearl Harbor and centers on a group of football players who join the Marines and fight for their country. Before participating in the Okinawa invasion, they play in a historic football game, which for many of its players would be their final game. Rounding out this impressive cast are stars Nicholas Galitzine, Ray Nicholson, Bill Skarsgård, and Tom Francis.
Director Peter Berg certainly is no stranger to directing action films, which made him an inspired choice to tackle this particular story. His action sensibilities lend exceedingly well to this material, delivering some of the most visceral and visually arresting set pieces for a war film in recent memory. Each action set piece feels relentless, authentic and wholly immersive, utilizing a great blend of practical effects and vfx work that is integrated seamlessly, entrenching the audience in the dirt as these young soldiers consistently fight for their lives in increasingly harrowing circumstances. Berg’s direction is incredibly strong here, never allowing the viewer to lose their sense of geography in the midst of the bloody, dirt-drenched chaos, only enhanced by the grand visual scope and enveloping production design. His direction is complimented wonderfully by the terrific sound design that allows the audience to hear every bullet fly by, feel every explosion and get a firm, fully realized experience of those terrifying events. It’s clear Berg was given a sizable budget to make this film and thankfully he doesn’t remotely waste a single penny.
The film also does an effective job at showcasing these men’s emotionally traumatic experiences of participating in this war. Galitzine, Skarsgård, Nicholson and Francis are all fantastic, each of them elevating the lackluster material they’re given as they’re able to showcase the transition from happy go lucky naivety to terrified, anguish-riddled determination as their circumstances become increasingly more dire and their moral compasses are palpably put to the test. The four of them do an admirable job selling the dynamic and chemistry amongst them, making their relationships feel as authentic and lived-in as they can. Galitzine and Nicholson in particular are excellent, the former continuing to showcase a gravitas that has served him well this year while the latter continues to prove he is far more than just his father’s son, his likability, charm and magnetism wholly his own.
However, as thrilling as the litany of action set pieces may be, the film suffers considerably in the character development department. The film has a pacing of a bullet train, wasting very little time to get to the impressive battle sequences. Unfortunately, this pacing short-changes the film’s central characters, giving them very little depth or development before these men enter battle. Despite strong performances from the core cast, their respective characters unfortunately come across as two-dimensional stock characters that feel ripped out of virtually any war film, unable to form their own singular identities. The film rarely comes up for air and even when it does, the exchanges between characters are not only considerably brief, but riddled with underwhelming and cliche-riddled dialogue that doesn’t do them any favors. As a result, audiences are left with a handsomely crafted film filled to the brim with spectacular set pieces, but emotionally running on empty.
The film also struggles to implement the football aspect of the story naturally within the story. The film feels so focused on being an intense and visceral war film that it often forgets about that aspect entirely, sprinkling the football element in intermittently and awkwardly as well. For the majority of the film, the football element of the story feels more like an afterthought than a crucial emotionally underpinning of the narrative, which it absolutely should have been. In fact, when the film decides to embrace this facet of the story, that’s when it finally begins to break free from conformity and carve out its own distinct identity in the genre. Unfortunately, these moments are few and far between.
‘The Mosquito Bowl’ is the kind of war film that will certainly entertain audiences with its dazzling and well-crafted action set pieces, a film that is clearly meant to be seen and heard on the big screen. However, unlike the best entries into this genre, audiences are left with paper thin characters that are difficult to become emotionally invested in despite this talented cast’s best efforts. For some, the former may be enough, but for many others, they’ll wish this gritty war film dug deeper into the dirt.