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movie review - Outside the Wire

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Kokubunji, 2023.09.22

This is a near-future Sci-Fi movie about a drone pilot who causes the deaths of some marines in a conflict in Ukraine through hitting a military target that was immediately adjacent to their position. As a result, he's sent to the front in Ukraine where the US is participating in a UN-led peacekeeping mission. There, he's quickly paired with a sentient artificial humanoid who has orders to retrieve launch codes for some ICBM's that are secretly still located in Ukraine.

There's a distinct lack of trust between the young Lieutenant and the synthetical soldier, and this only deepens as we get into one out-of-control circumstance after another. Soon the fate of the world is resting on their shoulders but it's not clear who wants what.

I enjoyed the plot, the overall vibe of the thing, and the characters. It was somewhat better than I expected.

Recommended.

rand()m quote

If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it. A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.

—Roald Dahl