Outside the Wire (2021)

Outside the Wire has high aspirations but never quite gets to where it is trying to go. Like a lot of great sci fi it attempts to use a fantastic concept to comment on the current issues of our day. In this case the film is about how robots are used by the military for their effectiveness but are looked down on and abused by those using them for not being human. It is a very thinly veiled analogy for the way racialized soldiers have often been treated in the American military. It then spins out into some other messages around how we treat human life in the pursuit of war and it is all some what fascinating but the film sort of fumbles its ideas never quite being as powerful a message as it should be. A big part of this is how much the film wants to tell you what it is messaging.

 

Outside the Wire is the sort of action movie that holds you hand all the way through. The film starts with text flashing on the screen explaining what the war we are watching is about. Then, within the first 20 minutes there are a number of scenes where actors have long conversations explaining whats going on, what their motivations are, and how we are to understand all we are seeing. This often feels forced despite the screenwriters' attempts to make it feel like natural dialogue. I'm not sure they ever really succeed at natural. Even at the end it has its character explain the ending just to make sure it is clear.

 

Once Outside the Wire gets going, which is a while cause it has to spend so much time setting itself up, the action scenes are often exhilarating. There is one in the middle that manages to be fairly powerful as well. But so much of the plot falls into cliche ideas (like the renegade hero saving the day, the partners who hate each other but learn to become brothers) that it is all just so rote that it takes away from how the film could be truly insightful on its moral to its story. There is a lot of discussions about what makes someone human and sometimes this starts to get interesting. Except for how the script always keeps shoving it in our faces as if we wouldn't understand if it wasn't spelled our for us. The film keeps holding up being blinking signs saying: "here's out point" and "pay attention." I would have rather just let the films story infuse these ideas.

 

There is a great deal of potential here but the film just isn't up for it. Outside the Wire is well intentioned and manages to never be boring, but it never quite accomplishes enough to make it truly satisfying.

 

Outside the Wire

Starring: Anthony Mackie, Damson Idris, Emily Beecham, Michael Kelly, Pilou Asbaek 

Director: Jan Håfström

Writers: Rob Yescombe, Rowan Athale