‘Outside the Wire’ is a decent action flick with interesting sci-fi elements

Posted on January 22, 2021

By MARK VIOLA

After delivering several well-produced action movies in 2020, Netflix gives us another in the form of “Outside the Wire,” a sci-fi film from director Mikael Håfström (“1408”). Although not as good as 2020’s best, “Extraction,” this one at least manages to tell a complete story, something neither “Power Play” nor “The Old Guard” were really able to do.

The film is set in the 2040s, during a time when a civil war has broken out in Ukraine, leaving the country a war-torn disaster, with militias aided by Russia battling it out with resistance forces. The U.S. has come in to act as peacekeepers, equipped with next-generation robotic soldiers supplementing the human forces.

Harp (Damson Idris, “Snowfall”) is a drone pilot participating in the war from the comfort of home soil. When he disobeys a direct order, he is sent to the front lines to experience war first hand, assigned to serve under Leo (Anthony Mackie, “Captain America: Winter Soldier”).

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