Reel Rundown: Clichés and predictability abound in Netflix’s ‘War Machine’

It’s official: Netflix has run out of ideas. Latest example: the military-themed science fiction offering “War Machine.”

Equal parts “Southern Comfort,” “Predator” and “Blackhawk Down,” with aspects of “Star Wars” and “Robocop” thrown in to create some impressive CGI effects, the Patrick Hughes-directed movie is little more than a recruiting advertisement for the U.S. Army.

To be specific, an ad for the Army Rangers special operations force.

That’s the group that an unnamed Army sergeant played by Alan Ritchson wants to join. Though older than most of the other Ranger candidates who sign up to attend what is a difficult, two-month qualification school, the sergeant – simply identified by his candidate number, 81 – is motivated to succeed.

And what is his motivation? We learn that in the opening sequence involving his brother (Jai Courtney) and a promise that 81 makes.

As soon we see him, isolated and solemn amid far younger soldiers, he refuses to take a leadership role and is intent solely on – we hear this again and again – crossing the finish line.

The men in charge of Ranger School – Sheridan (Dennis Quaid) and Torres (Esai Morales) – recognize 81’s potential. But, too, they see him as a liability. And they look for ways to wash him out.

Then comes the final test: the infamous Death March, a multi-day trial designed to assess the candidates’ abilities to complete a mission. And it becomes 81’s moment to shine.

In an ordinary military-action movie, what happens next would be predictable. But director Hughes, who co-wrote the script with actor/screenwriter James Beaufort, has something different in mind (still predictable but in a different way).

And they disclose what that something is barely 15 minutes into the movie’s hour-and-46-minute running time. That’s when a TV news report informs us about a strange asteroid-type object approaching Earth. Um, could this be the beginning of an alien invasion?

From the moment 81 and his fellow Ranger candidates begin their mission, the question becomes who will survive – and, more to the point, who won’t.

“War Machine” then begs, borrows and steals to fill out what comes next. From “Southern Comfort” about a National Guard training exercise gone wrong. From “Predator” in which mercenaries face a killer alien hunter. From “Blackhawk Down,” which features Rangers fighting for their very lives.

The threat that 81 and the others face looks like a mix between four-legged “Star Wars” armored walkers and the two-legged police unit designed to replace the title character in “Robocop.”

And how do the human soldiers respond? By muttering variations on “You got this” or ” I got you” while fording raging rivers, squirming in mud and binding wounds all while dodging the alien presence intent on exterminating every one of them – if not the entire planet.

Ritchson, the actor who is the true embodiment of the “Reacher” character dreamed up by the novelist Lee Child, is little more than a grim-faced stoic here. The only other characters who make any sort of impression are Nos. 7 (Stephan James) and 15 (Blake Richardson), though neither has any meaningful lines and Richardson is forced to play the cliché misfit.

And about those lines, at least the ones that aren’t designed simply to extol the virtues of Ranger life? Well, here’s a fun game: Take a drink every time a character utters an expletive.

You likely won’t make it to the movie’s closing credits before passing out.