War Game

Play trailer

2:06

War Game

Released Aug 2, 2024

1h 34m

Mystery & Thriller

Documentary

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

80%

Tomatometer

46 Reviews

62%

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

War Game sweeps audiences into an elaborate future-set simulation that dramatically escalates the threat posed by the January 6, 2021 insurrection. The film follows a bipartisan group of US defense, intelligence, and elected policymakers spanning five presidential administrations as they participate in an unscripted role-play exercise. Portraying a fictional President of the United States and his advisors, they confront a political coup backed by rogue members of the US military in the wake of a contested 2024 presidential election. Like actors in a thriller, but with profound real-world stakes, the players have only six hours to save American democracy.

Watch on Fandango at Home

Buy Now

Critics Consensus

A creative exercise of deadly serious import, War Game is an involving feat of simulation that sounds the alarm.

Read Critics Reviews

Dan Einav

Financial Times

While the presence of cameras and White House replica sets bring a touch of theatricality to proceedings, everyone taking part is fully committed to the exercise.

Rated: 4/5

Oct 3, 2024

Full Review

Michael O'Sullivan

Washington Post

As a simultaneously slick and provocative entertainment, “War Game” is chilling and a tad infuriating, offering a white-knuckle ride that may feel a bit too fresh in the memory for viewers who are still traumatized by the real thing.

Rated: 2.5/4

Aug 29, 2024

Full Review

Claudia Puig

FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)

This was fascinating, urgent and important.

Aug 28, 2024

Full Review

Bethan Ackerley

New Scientist

I left War Game with questions about the exercise’s purpose. I didn’t learn much and I’m not sure anyone in the situation room did either. That said, for capturing the precarity of the US government in such scary circumstances, this is worth your time.

Jan 24, 2025

Full Review

Pat Stacey

Irish Independent

The nail-biting docu-thriller War Game imagines how a sitting administration might respond to another insurrection far more serious than the previous one.

Oct 2, 2024

Full Review

Abbie Bernstein

Assignment X

This provides a lot of food for thought.

Rated: B

Oct 1, 2024

Full Review

Read all reviews

Bernard D

Real people playing real people. Fascists are real too and must be defeated.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

09/07/24

Full Review

Michael

I liked the idea better than the film. For a film with a 6 hour clock War Game took leisurely digressions into back stories.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

08/26/24

Full Review

Andrew

Exceptionally timely and realistic. Very scary.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

08/12/24

Full Review

William B

This film is a bit unerving when you watch the complexity of decision making. The use of real people in place of actors lends to its credibility and impact. The danger of a repitition of Jan 6, is made plain by the issues that are raised by its participants in their roles. This is a film that every high school civics class should include.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

08/10/24

Full Review

Peter C

There's a good reason for the US to simulate insurrection scenarios, especially worst case ones when the present government tries to erase the existence of locally grown terrorist cells, but this was a far cry from a worst case scenario. Instead we got an easily resolved "hostage" scenario that seemed to resolve itself completely without consequence and a president, that at the end of the day, got to control the narrative competely. I wonder if the game had been run by completely third party non-US affiliated designers if this might have allieviated the problem, there seemed to be too much of a "make sure the good guys win" underwriting to the story. Insurrections that actually go ahead are messy. People die, affiliations switch, and active leaders go from ally to foe. Something the left (including myself) often does is underestimate, and this movie is one big pat on the back. I hope that this is merely the insurrection lite scenario that happened to have a film crew attaché.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/19/25

Full Review

Richard L

A thrilling, and at times terrifying, verite documentary.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/11/24

Full Review

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Tony Gerber

Director

Jesse Moss

Director

Chris Henry Coffey

Actor

Steve Bullock

President John Hotham

Heidi Heitkamp

Sen. Advisor to the President

Alex Vindman

Game Consultant

The Loft

15%

37%

The Loft

Watchlist

The Independent

35%

66%

The Independent

Watchlist

TRAILER

for The Independent

The Marsh King's Daughter

40%

74%

The Marsh King's Daughter

Watchlist

TRAILER

for The Marsh King's Daughter

How to Blow Up a Pipeline

95%

65%

How to Blow Up a Pipeline

Watchlist

TRAILER

for How to Blow Up a Pipeline

Black Bag

88%

%

Black Bag

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Black Bag

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

15 Best Documentaries We Saw at Sundance 2024

War Game: Trailer 1

2:06

View more videos

View more photos

Synopsis

War Game sweeps audiences into an elaborate future-set simulation that dramatically escalates the threat posed by the January 6, 2021 insurrection. The film follows a bipartisan group of US defense, intelligence, and elected policymakers spanning five presidential administrations as they participate in an unscripted role-play exercise. Portraying a fictional President of the United States and his advisors, they confront a political coup backed by rogue members of the US military in the wake of a contested 2024 presidential election. Like actors in a thriller, but with profound real-world stakes, the players have only six hours to save American democracy.

Director: Tony Gerber, Jesse Moss
Producer: Todd Lubin, Jesse Moss, Jack Turner, Mark Dicristofaro, Jessica Grimshaw, Nick Shumaker
Distributor: Submarine Deluxe
Production Co: Boat Rocker Studios, Anonymous Content, Matador Content
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 2, 2024, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 27, 2024
Runtime: 1h 34m

Most Popular at Home Now