Netflix's massive war movie gets a trailer that'll leave you short of breath
The Mosquito Bowl looks harrowing
Netflix sure knows how to make a great war movie – and it seems like the recipe it has bubbling away right now is actually pretty simple. It reads: give it to a proven filmmaker. That's got to be part of the motivation behind The Mosquito Bowl, its new film from veteran director Peter Berg.
Berg has some great flicks in his back catalogue, including the cult classic Deepwater Horizon. He's a pretty darn safe pair of hands, and from the looks of the brutal red-band trailer that just came out for Netflix's new film, it seems he's done exactly what he was asked.
The Mosquito Bowl tells the almost unbelievable true story of a group of young American Football players who put their lives and careers on hold to go fight in the Second World War, and how their camaraderie helped some of them to make it through what was almost hell on earth. It's broadly true that almost any soldier in that conflict had an affecting personal story to explain their presence, but these guys might trump a lot of those.
Their journeys took them to the Pacific theatre, where the fighting was some of the most horrific and bloody in the entire war, and it looks like this film is committed to portraying things accurately. To that end, it's chock-full of gory moments, which is sort of the point of this unrated trailer, which showcases how mature the movie aims to be.
Whether that commitment to an accurate battlefield is matched by the sort of verve and style that will see the film actually win over critics is basically impossible to judge from this trailer, though. Still, you don't have long to wait if you want to find out for yourself – it'll be in cinemas from 30 October.
That's a sign that Netflix thinks it's got a good one on its hands, since it really only puts movies in cinemas to make them eligible for awards (and some bonus box office cash). We'll see if The Mosquito Bowl can generate some hype, then.
