Netflix's 'The Mosquito Bowl' Feels Too Familiar Despite Strong Battle Scenes

In Brief:

Netflix releases "The Mosquito Bowl," a World War II drama directed by Peter Berg, on Oct. 30.
Starring Nicholas Galitzine, Bill Skarsgard, Ray Nicholson and Tom Francis, it follows Marines before a 1944 Guadalcanal football game.
Reviewers praise its combat cinematography but find the storytelling and character development familiar and thin.

Soldiers charging through dense Pacific jungle in Netflix's WWII movie drama, The Mosquito Bowl.

Image Credit: Netflix

The Mosquito Bowl: Netflix's new World War II drama opens with a famous warning.

Former President Herbert Hoover once said that older men declare wars.

Young people are the ones who fight and die. They also inherit the pain and the aftermath.

The message is powerful. It is also familiar. Nearly every war movie has carried the same theme.

A new entry needs sharp, fresh execution to stand out. "The Mosquito Bowl" shows strong craft. Its storytelling falls short.

A Strong Idea With Familiar Themes

Director Peter Berg leads the project. He co-wrote the script with Mark L. Smith.

The film is based on the book of the same name by Buzz Bissinger. Bissinger also wrote "Friday Night Lights," which Berg adapted for the screen before.

The story builds toward a real football game. Two Marine divisions faced off on Christmas Eve in 1944.

They were stationed at Guadalcanal at the time. The sports angle adds a new twist to the war drama.

But the effect is smaller than expected. The game fills only a small part of the 126-minute running time.

The Cast

Four elite college football players anchor the story. All of them joined the Marines after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Four rising stars play them.

Nicholas Galitzine plays John McLaughry. He is a thoughtful Brown University graduate.
Ray Nicholson plays Tony Butkovich. He is a charming Purdue graduate and a promising NFL draft pick.
Tom Francis plays David Schreiner. He is an anxious University of Wisconsin graduate.
Bill Skarsgard plays Bob Bauman. He is a wild University of Wisconsin graduate.

Only David holds a grudge against Tony. Tony's team beat theirs in a key game.

Predictable Storytelling

The Hoover quote signals a well-worn path. The film never leaves it. The central ideas are easy to guess from the premise alone.

War builds unbreakable bonds. War turns boys into men. War also wrecks their minds and bodies.

The film also tries to link war and football. One character even compares the Marine Corps to the greatest offensive line in football history. The comparison feels forced.

Where the Film Shines

The technical work is the movie's biggest strength. War fans may find it worth watching for that alone.

The combat scenes are set in the Pacific. They were filmed in Australia. They look vast and authentic. Hundreds of soldiers run, shout and fire at the same time.

Berg worked with cinematographer Jacques Jouffret. They chose tight, close shots.

Viewers feel the chaos the way the soldiers do. Machine guns thunder from every direction. A friend is hit by a bullet in the middle of a conversation.

Flamethrowers sweep wildly at the edges of the frame. Enemies and allies appear only through trees and smoke.

Rumors replace real information. Nobody knows what waits over the next ridge.

The color palette is less successful. The dull mix of gray, brown and blue aims for gritty realism. It ends up looking like a standard Netflix production.

Style Over Substance

The battle scenes run long. That may be on purpose. The characters once hoped to be home by July 1942. They learn that war is neither quick nor easy.

Still, the film seems more interested in its action than its story. Battle scenes, boot camp and football all get the same showy treatment. Plot and characters take a back seat.

The script adds to the problem. It does little to connect those big moments. The title game arrives with almost no buildup.

One Marine complains about low morale. A sergeant then orders two others to organize a game. Moments later, the players line up.

The basic story pieces are in place. Viewers can guess that the players were recruited.

But the film rushes past the emotional moments that would make the story land. Characters are sketched in brief bits of talk between gunfights.

Their growth happens off screen, or may not happen at all. It is hard to tell whether anyone changes. None of them is clearly defined to begin with.

Big Ideas, Shallow Treatment

The film's biggest ideas are reduced to empty slogans. It does touch on the darker side of military culture. But it treats service as a noble sacrifice and refuses to dig deeper.

In one scene, Bob shows an aggressive eagerness for combat during boot camp. The film never questions his attitude or his motives.

It mentions such details and moves on. The story then heads to a plainly heroic ending.

That avoidance is especially frustrating. The film often praises itself for being clear-eyed. In quiet moments, the camera pulls back to show Earth from space.

In others, it zooms in on small, sad details. One example is a seagull walking along a beach covered with fallen soldiers.

These scenes are meant to give a sense of perspective.

In emotional peaks, the film freezes into black-and-white snapshots. Some come from real archives.

They remind viewers that the events were real. But being true does not guarantee that a story feels true. For much of its running time, "The Mosquito Bowl" forgets that.

Film Details