David Michôd’s War Machine marks Netflix’s second assessment of America’s Middle Eastern strategies in barely a month. Fernando Coimbra’s Sand Castle questioned Iraq-war involvement, and now – weeks later – attention is diverted to Afghanistan, 2009. It’s all based on Michael Hastings’ non-fiction “The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan,” an exposé that “questions” General Stanley McChrystal’s 2010 shot-calling. The names may have changed from page to screen, but the message is retained. When invading a foreign land, how is one supposed to broker peace? It’s a confused tactic; one that blurs the rules of war. Good thing a colorful cast of jarheads are there to “make sense” of it all.

Brad Pitt stars as General Glen McMahon, the 4-star legend whose duty is to declare a victorious end to Afghanistan’s ongoing retaliations. Shouldn’t be too hard since the “Glenimal” (yes,...