War Machine Review: 4 Ups & 5 Downs

3. It's Genuinely Interesting & Informative

Yes, the film serves as a pretty simple and piecemeal primer on the War in Afghanistan, but in its best moments it's actually a legitimately intriguing examination of one of the more contentious periods in America's recent military history.

For example, did you know that Afghan farmers were allowed to grow Heroin because the U.S. government wouldn't allow them to grow something legal, like cotton, out of fear it would compete with American farmers?

Elsewhere the movie reveals that U.S. soldiers could receive a Medal of Heroic Restraint for diffusing an intense situation without using their guns, and though this was ultimately only proposed in real life in order to curb civilian casualties, it's a fascinating (not to mention hilarious) idea all the same.

These compelling morsels may only appear intermittently throughout, but when they do land, they're golden.