The Kill Team

This film tells the story of a young soldier who battles with himself on whether to follow the dubious orders of his sergeant.

The story is well told, as it highlights the battles of the young soldier. The intimidation by the sergeant is portrayed effectively, making the young soldier crack and fear for his own safety. It is very sad that the young soldier had to endure such an ordeal.

This was a decent effort elevated by Alexander Skarsgard who plays low key menacing so well. There was a strong sense of the dilemma our lead young soldier felt as he wrestles between doing the right thing and fitting in with his team. The film feels very claustrophobic and it seemed like a realistic portrait of a powerless and lonely existence on the bottom rung of the US Army.

This movie starts out very strong, and the first half hour flies by! Feels like a documentary, and has a very realistic tone to it! And Alexander Skarsgård is absolutely amazing in his role as Sergeant Deeks! A fantastic acting job! After that first half hour, the film slows down quite a bit, and I think, dragged along by the terrible acting of Nat Wolff. He seems completely devoid of emotion, right from the beginning, and has absolutely no character in his face, or movements. A terrible performance, especially when he's on screen with Skarsgard. An absolute miscasting if ever there was. And I don't know if it's Wolff's horrid acting, or the writing of the character himself, but I felt no sympathy for him. Heck, I kind of wanted to take a shot at him myself! Still, a decent film about the madness of war, and what kind of terrible pressure these soldiers are under.

A24 has been proving themselves as one of the best studios out there today, but there are a few genres that they haven't dabbled much in yet. I would argue that Comedy and War are two genres that they have a slim number of films in, so I was pleasantly surprised when I heard about The Kill Team. On top of that, I love it when a movie can tell such a simple story and keep you incredibly engaged. The Kill Team absolutely fits that description. Gripping and unsettling to watch these events that happen on a daily basis somewhere in the world, here's why I believe The Kill Team is worth your time.

After young Andrew Briggman (Nat Wolff) is given his position in the war in Afghanistan, he very quickly has that shaken when his commanding officer is killed. Given a new leader in Sergeant Deeks (Alexander Skarsgård), this team must adapt to a very new practice, one in which Briggman is highly against. Although not a very violent film in nature, the subject matter had me sick to my stomach at times, just thinking about how this type of thing goes on in our daily lives. We truly live in a brutal world and this movie chooses to showcase just why that is.

Written and directed by Dan Krauss, this film is a commanding first outing for him, stating that he is very much capable of handling a full feature. Having not heard this name before the release of The Kill Team, I will be keeping an eye on his work from now on. Although simple in nature, this movie has a fantastic pace. At a mere 88 minutes, the progression of Andrew Briggman is really what stood out to me. If for nothing else, this is an independent war film that puts its characters before the action and that's nothing but commendable in my opinion.

Where this film slightly lost me and may lose others, however, is in its repetitive nature. I found there to be a few too many scenes of Briggman not liking what he's seeing and then trying to do something about it. There were a few story beats that were repeated that felt a little unnecessary. Other than that, this is a very tight, tense, and impactful little film that I was invested in from start to finish. It also didn't hurt that Skarsgård was delivering a great, slimy performance as well.

In the end, The Kill Team may not be as fantastic as I was hoping it would be, but I was still sucked in from the very first scene. As mentioned, this is a very tense film that pulls no punches in terms of telling it how it is. Although I didn't know the true story beforehand, it seemed very truthful in its storytelling. This is a very well-made war film that I definitely recommend checking out. It's now playing in a few select theatres and available to purchase and stream digitally.

8.5 rating. Snitches get stitches. I liked this movie because even I felt like I wasn't sure which side I was on at times.

Acting was seriously on point - Nat Wolff was great and I can't wait to see more of him. His presence was really nuanced and subtle but his character held all the emotional weight and you were right there with him, even though the script was sparse for his character...most of what needed to be communicated was done wordlessly and really effectively. Adam Long was equally talented, of course the great Alexander Skarsgard never dissapoints and his character manages to be charming and seductive as always. The acting was really top shelf. I suspect the angsty script and lush characters really inspired the strong performances. It was pretty gripping.

I didn't like it as a "war movie". The setting is in Afghanistan and so you expect action (my mistake), But really the war is there only as a backdrop to flawless character studies. I suspect many people will be falsely drawn to this movie, hoping it is something else when really it's a drama. I look at the poster and feel it could be misleading. There is no action is this movie. Well a bit, but not enough to warrant the plume of smoke on the poster. The marketing may have been misrepresentative here. Question of managing expectations; it just so happens I love good acting, engaging storytelling and Alexander Skarsgard - so I wasn't so dissappointed.

I really loved the jealousy and vying for attention that the characters had for Sargent Deeks (Skarsgard) The whole situation was entirely plausible and it shouldn't have been, which is why the story was so good.

I think the low scores are from people who like action stuff like Hobbs & Shaw and didn't read up to understand what they were about to watch. This is a really solid movie and some of the concepts are still lingering inside me. (the conscience bullet)

I loved it.