Zone Hostile (Outside the Wire)

While most movie theaters in the U.S. and France are largely closed, subscription video-on-demand services such as Netflix, Apple Tv+, Prime Video and Disney+ seem to be taking over and offering moviegoers their weekly doses of blockbusters, and it's no coincidence that Netflix recently launched a spectacular trailer announcing an impressive array of U.S. blockbusters capable of rivaling the big theatrical releases that moviegoers are so fond of. Zone Hostile (Outside the Wire) is a dreadfully effective mix of war and science fiction film and delivers total immersion with no downtime.

For his new film, director Mikael Håfström (Room 1408 (2007), Shanghai (2009), The Rite)(2011), Escape Plan (2013)) based on a screenplay by Rob Yescombe, Rowan Athale delivers a real immersive cinematic experience and plunges us into a not-so-distant future in which an American drone pilot, Harp (Damson Idris), after making a decision to launch an attack in a war in Europe without waiting for his superior's validation, is relayed from behind his screen to the field and teamed up with an android officer Leo (Anthony Mackie). The deceptive appearances will make him understand that Leo is not only a formidable war machine, but also has a radical and dangerous plan to end the protracted conflict in Europe. The deceptive appearances of his actions will plunge Harp into a situation as perilous for him as it is for millions of people.

If hostile zone turns out to be very effective it is because his scenario is not only a simple pretext to line up without any dead time the action scenes of formidable efficiency but also to question the spectators on human evolution and artificial intelligence. One will thus think of many films such as the Terminator saga, Alita Battle Angel but also of action films featuring an atypical duo worthy of the great action films of the Hollywood studios. From the very first minutes, the film puts the audience in the middle of a war zone like an immersive video game where players take part in a conflict and find out how to survive in a zone that is as dangerous as it is deadly. Once again, Mikael Håfström's inspired direction works wonders here and benefits from the presence of actors Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson / Falcon in the Marvel film universe) and Damson Idris whose duet is perfectly homogeneous and gives this film many excellent scenes.

Zone Hostile (Outside the Wire) shows once again that in order to propose a good science-fiction film, it is not only necessary to have spectacular special effects but above all to bring a good humanity to its characters and to put the action itself at the center of the story. The scenario here perfectly mastered gives this film its own identity even if some scenes are very reminiscent of Neil Blomkamp's Elysium (2013) and Chappie (2015) or Paul Verhoeven's mythical Robocop (1987). Mikael Håfström thus proves to be as effective in the action scenes as he is more intimate.

Outside the Wire
Directed by Mikael Håfström
Produced by Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Anthony Mackie, Ben Pugh, Erica Steinberg, Jason Spire, Arash Amel
Screenplay by Rob Yescombe, Rowan Athale
Story by Rob Yescombe
Starring Anthony Mackie, Damson Idris, Emily Beecham, Michael Kelly, Pilou Asbæk
Cinematography : Michael Bonvillain
Edited by Rickard Krantz
Production companies : Automatik Entertainment, 42 Films, Inspire Entertainment
Distributed by Netflix
Release date : January 15, 2021
Running time : 115 minutes

Viewed on January 13, 2021 (Netflix press access)

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