Outside the Wire (2021) Poster

User Reviews

Review this title
775 Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
5/10
Netflix need to step up its movies department
Freezing_Walkers15 January 2021
Buddha says that expectation is the root cause of sadness.

Action was alright.

Poor script failed the movie.

I was expecting that there will be some twists, but the movie too plain, too much predictable.

I think I Netflix need to step up its movie production department, if they want to compete with new streaming services.
357 out of 427 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
4/10
OUTSIDE OF REASON
MadamWarden15 January 2021
Warning: Spoilers
An impossibly cheesy action movie rolled off the Netflix action factory production line. Silly plot. Some good action and cheesy acting.

Almost good enough to overcome general boredom but not enough to feel that you didn't just waste the last one and a half hours of your life...
346 out of 425 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
6/10
robots were cool, acting was funny
boryagin30 January 2021
Robots in action were cool.

Otherwise, it was just a funny piece. Black native Ukrainians speaking American English to black American soldiers. I am not even going into all the mess with scenery and language. Those are understood.

The main character is completely out of sync with his role and supposed mentality. Army officers behave like teenage campers. Combat scenes so flawed that it's apparent even to a civilian like me.

So you can watch it if you got nothing else to do. With a bottle of beer or a glass of whiskey. Not a genuine cinematic experience. Don't expect too much.
50 out of 59 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
2/10
Netflix why you keep making these average movies...
ThomDerd25 January 2021
I used to like Netflix films. They had some consistent level of quality...but lately its been terrible with their releases. This film is another example and it disrespects the viewer's IQ.

The story? Full of plot holes, a bit suggestive as well. The acting? Mackie is ok but that other folk needs to rethink his approach to acting. The action and pace? Inconsistent, gets really boring at times. The shooting: Oh they spent all the money there.

If you have nothing else to watch, then this one is a mmmaaayyyybbbbeee... But i can't suggest this to anyone with a mind. 2,5/10 just for some cool fight scenes.
183 out of 206 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Decent Single A Action movie
daniel-nordqvist-eqe0829 January 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Probably not something you're going to re-watch but for me it was enjoyable.

If you want something new this may not be the right choice, the general story is pretty standard: Newbie gets to the camp, meets more experienced mentor, experiences combat, handles it badly for a while, twist, he ends up on his own and somehow completes the mission.

There are some cool parts to the story though. Most notably for me was the parallel between Leo and the standard combat drones. He more or less wants the US to consider the consequences to their new weapon systems, that's why he does what he does. You can see it throughout the movie including the collateral damage from drone strikes, but more interesting is the fact that their combat robots have a tendency to fire first. Sure their targets are armed and behaving in a threatening manner. But as demonstrated by Leo defusing the situation by the relief truck it doesn't have to end with a firefight.

There's also an interesting parallel between them sending a drone pilot to experience combat in order to understand what happens when they fire a missile and the US learning the consequences of their weapons by one of those weapons turning against them. That's why Leo *MUST* be the one to do it.

All in all a solid film. But it does suffer from some boneheaded mistakes including: the protagonist having over 56000 flight hours, that's 6 years 24/7, or 18 years full time. As such I would expect him to be in his late thirties at least, but I don't think the character was more than 25... The Balkans being mentioned frequently despite the movie taking place in Ukraine some 600 miles and several countries away. And sure that one can be handwaved away, most of the time they are referring to a person, "the terror of the Balkans" and therefore not technically wrong. But throughout the movie it seems like they are referring to that title as if it has local significance...
45 out of 59 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
3/10
Balkans in Ukraine??? Someone needs a geography lesson
kolbasbgd16 January 2021
Yet again one of the USA saves the day against USSR films, so old and cliche, worn out. But even worse the dude has 56000 flight hours, and even worse than that dude is called what, the terror of the Balkans? Last time I checked Balkans was still 1000km away from Ukraine.
400 out of 486 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
6/10
OK
renatoromero-5200025 January 2021
In my humble opinion, it's an OK film with good action, special effects & cast but it's too serious & not much fun with a gloomy & boring story line!
29 out of 43 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
3/10
Bad script
sippyrajan15 January 2021
1. Failed to simulate real war situation. 2. Just flat storyline with bad acting. 3. Can't understand the action taken by the character.( Its like some 3rd grade movie).

Must watch: nah One time: may be
267 out of 342 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Entangled in the Wire(?)
kosmasp17 January 2021
Or just ... plain wired? Now visually and technically in general I'd say there is not much one can critisize here. On the story part though ... or at least the coherent storytelling ... that's a different story (no pun intended). This really is quite a stretch to say the least. And while Mackie does his best to keep the audience engaged (together with the rest of the cast, but I'd argue he's best ... equipped - again with the puns I know) ... unfortunately I'd say he is ... programmed to fail! Ok I'll stop, but I just couldn't help myself.

So if you want to just shut off and enjoy some action on your screen, you could do worse. But I hear many already saying "why a 7? Why rate it so high?". Well the answer to that is, that I was entertained and not bothered too much by the flaws the movie. I understand if you feel otherwise. This is far removed from a masterpiece ...
62 out of 100 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
1/10
Cheesefest
gert-2387415 January 2021
Feels like some middle school kids were given money to write and direct a movie. Cheesy plot & acting.
216 out of 286 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
8/10
Why the Hate? Good Flick
polsixe24 January 2021
Being trashed in some reviews but hard to see why. Decent concept, the robots and drone warfare "look" right. CGI is fine. Mackie fighting his way through the Krasny's is very Wick-Ian. There is some important dialogue between the two main characters that is important for the ending. And that's where the problem may be, as the Captain Leo Android makes some conclusions and decisions that would not be totally popular in the US. A brave script in that respect, and a good thriller.
67 out of 108 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Just once I wish they would give an alternate ending!
aasimazam23 January 2021
I like the movie, the suspense was good, although the story was very linear. I just wish the writers and directors had the balls to actually do something different than the "good guys always win" and "humans can do better" cliches.

Let that nuke drop, let it be too late, let it be an aftermath movie, it would be far more interesting than this cliched stuff.
22 out of 32 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
3/10
Plot so bad they have to explain it every 5 minutes
jbrown51016 January 2021
This is one of those horribly written and directed movies where the characters explain the plot every 5 minutes, or explain why they need to do what they're about to do. I guess they knew it wasn't compelling enough for viewers to remember it on their own.
121 out of 157 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
3/10
Don't believe the bad reviews. It's actually much worse...
danillelos16 January 2021
Just bad. I felt ashamed I asked my husband to watch this with me...
142 out of 187 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Enjoyed that!
adammcgowan-0384115 January 2021
I don't understand the really negative comments on this. Just finished it and was a decent action flick with a good story line.

The acting was fairly good with Mackey leading. Never a poor movie from this one and he doesn't let down here.

As for the action but not a sci-fi movie.... erm.... I appreciate we're close to war machines but unless you all know more than me they don't exist yet therefore this is sci-fi. Felt like the Boston Dynamic robots on steroids though and prob be here soon!

If you're looking for a decent action movie don't be put off by the bad reviews. It's definite 7 for me! Enjoy!
69 out of 114 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
4/10
Silly Movie
Athanatos17316 January 2021
A fairly bad movie that feels like it was written by a teenager with no knowledge or life experience.

Anthony Mackie, though unimpressive, did a passable job, whereas I cannot for the life of me understand the casting of Damson Idris, who was fairly bad, having no presence on screen and seemed to be acting on auto pilot.

The writing was atrocious, seemingly trying to convey a message but falling short. The lead is supposed to have 56,000 hours of flight time which is also ridiculous, showing me how bad the writers actually are. 56,000 hours is 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, for over 6 YEARS...

In the end, it is a silly implausible movie that you will forget moments after you watch it.

Not Recommended.
112 out of 147 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Take it for what it is
pirzadaj20 January 2021
You are basically getting a really good action flick with great gun fighting and military robot scenes and fight scenes. It has some great actors too (shout out to Doug from House of Cards). Yeah, the script can get a little basic and you can ask "why didn't they just kill him like this", but then you're expecting too much. If you want to see a decent action flick with good actors and entertaining scenes, give it a watch when you need a movie to watch.
36 out of 56 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
4/10
You won't leave happy
muhanado16 January 2021
I watched it because the trailer looked cool. I'm a sucker for good action, plus I like watching Anthony Mackie movies. That said, this movie was so blah. Harp, the protagonist, is just so boring to the point of being annoying. Less than half way through and I couldn't stand listening to him talk. There are some good action scenes and CGI work, but the story just sucked and was so cliche. I can't imagine anyone leaving being happy they spent 2 hours of their life watching this movie, but if you need something to pass the time, sure.
123 out of 163 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
6/10
By the numbers movie, well acted, but not very entertaining
siderite15 January 2021
This is an unscrupulous attempt to combine Training Day with something like Monsters of Man (or any other mediocre recent robot related CGI laden money grab).

And it was a perfect job. The movie pushes all the buttons, does everything that was in both genres of movies, but without any feeling. Ironically, it felt like a machine created the script - when I know for a fact that if a machine did it it would have been more creative.

Bottom line: you may enjoy it, but it doesn't bring anything new and it's pretty boring.
39 out of 64 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
4/10
56,000 flight hours....... let's do the math......
willandcharlenebrown22 February 2021
56,000 hours divided by 8 hours a day equal 7,000 days without a single day off. 7,000 days divided by 365 days a year equals 19 years without a day off.

They kid said he'd been in the military 3 years. Haha wow

It's either an insult to my intelligence or Betflix purposely tried to make these guys dumb as a bag of rock which if they did, shame on them and the director.

Great acting and great special affects but dumb stale overplayed story line.
39 out of 48 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
9/10
Give it a watch and rate for yourself.
getphysicallyfit16 January 2021
Everyone wants to be Ebert and Siskel clearly. I stopped reading reviews and watched this just now and i will say the first 20 minutes had me concerned but then it performed very well with the intro of Leo. If I would have listened to all the negative reviews, i would have missed out on a good movie.

Those that say it was predictable I call BS. Those bashing the performance or plot, well to each his or her own . I guess they were expecting an extension of the Terminator. I liked the cast line up and the acting. Was good to see Anthony Mackie up front and center again.

You wont have any idea what the endgame is until 3/4 of the way through the movie. The bigger issue it addresses is real-time on both AI and our hubris in thinking that we can control its evolution. It calls to light our humanity and the ills that we do coming back at us. Also, the aspect of war from the comfort of home with this generation and its love for video games and how that translates to the removal from the real life consequences of pressing a button thousands of miles away first pulling a trigger with boots on the ground in combat is yet another real-time issue.

I would have given it a ten but the ending did fall short of the build up. But that's just how I felt.
44 out of 82 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
so much hate for this movie
kaefab16 January 2021
I really like it of course its not going to win any Oscars, but the FX where amazing lots of actions etc... the story was predictable but still.

A cool way to pass the time.
71 out of 124 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
1/10
Disaster
Lazizzi16 January 2021
So bad it might hurt Netflix stock. If this is the level of the monthly movie promised we might as well cancel our subscription.
153 out of 212 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
4/10
All over the place
Otte116 January 2021
Pros: Anthony Mackie is a very good actor and possesses a screen presence. Several of the action scenes are engaging.

Cons: Everything else Protagonist acting is way off. It is the Kneau Reeves/Kristen Stewart off. Writing is a step beyond high school, with dialogue that is laughable. Logic is nonsensical, where people walking and people driving a car very fast are reaching the same destination at the same time(and they both left the same time). Plot is early James Bond level of over the top. Editing is patched together so loosely that you barely realize what is going on Lastly, there appears to be no security at military bases, villian hideouts, billion dollar laboratories.
80 out of 107 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Better than I expected
jackabela15 January 2021
I thought this might be another Netflix flop, but it was actually really engaging. The acting is good, the fight and chase scenes are really well done. Solid film.
38 out of 64 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
An error has occured. Please try again.

See also

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews


Recently Viewed