When I settled into my plush theater seat to view Warfare on its opening weekend, I had done no research about the film. I anticipated the standard Global War on Terrorism fare: good guys and bad ones in an epic struggle watered down for the palates of Americans desperate for a denouement, and maybe a sappy love story for good measure.

I have never been so grateful to be disappointed, even as the film kept me pinned to my seat, alternating between terror and tears for 95 nerve-wracking minutes.