Review: Pitt goes all out in flawed satire 'War Machine'

Alas, it is McNairy's sleepy, lengthy exposition which kicks off, and drives, "War Machine," a smart and genuinely interesting but overstuffed critique of modern warfare and the men in charge that also inelegantly whiplashes between absurdism and sincerity.

[...] yet, while it might not reach the heights of classic war satires like "Catch-22," or "M-A-S-H," a strong and sobering third act makes "War Machine" a worthy and thought-provoking endeavor.

McMahon is in all but name a caricature of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the once commander of all U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, who was famously destroyed by an inflammatory Rolling Stone article by the late writer Michael Hastings.

The article painted McChrystal's team of counterinsurgency evangelists as arrogant and anti-authoritarian and featured derogatory comments about the Obama administration from his staff.

Michod attempts to infuse that sort of rebel energy and vigor into "War Machine" with varying results, focusing heavily on McMahon's robotic drive, delusional megalomania and his miscreant hangers on (including Emory Cohen, Topher Grace, RJ Cyler, John Magaro and Anthony Michael Hall).

Where "War Machine" really finds its stride, however, is in the human margins outside of the reporter's purview — especially in scenes involving the young soldiers on the ground who are haunted and conflicted by the confusing and unspecific directives given to them to execute this confusing and unspecific war.