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Netflix releases Peter Berg's WWII football film 'The Mosquito Bowl' in theatres, then streaming

Peter Berg's WWII drama The Mosquito Bowl opens in US theatres on 30 October and streams on Netflix from 25 November. Reviews in Collider and IndieWire agree it is brutal and conventional but differ on whether it works.

2 outlets · 1L · 1C · 0R First reported Account updated
Image: Collider
Image: IndieWire

1 / 2

The story, neutrally told

Mixed · 2Netflix is releasing The Mosquito Bowl, a World War II drama directed by Peter Berg, in theatres on 30 October and on its streaming service on 25 November. Centre · 1The film stars Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Galitzine, Ray Nicholson and Tom Francis as college football stars turned Marines who play a game in the days before the Battle of Okinawa. Centre · 1It is based on Buzz Bissinger's book of the same name, and Berg, Bissinger's cousin, co-wrote the screenplay with Mark L. Smith.

Mixed · 2Collider describes the release as part of a shift at Netflix toward giving selected titles proper theatrical runs and reporting their box-office grosses, after La Bola Negra. It lists the film's runtime as 127 minutes, while IndieWire says 126. Centre · 1Collider's reviewer calls the film an "exceedingly by-the-books" war epic with archetypal characters and some historical compression, but also a "brutally effective and thoroughly gripping watch" that is "worth enduring". She praises Galitzine and Nicholson and Berg's staging of the game and the combat. Left · 1IndieWire's reviewer, David Ehrlich, calls it a "formulaic" film that does little to distinguish itself from other WWII movies. He says the football game takes up only an eight-minute montage and that the characters are treated as cannon fodder, and he criticises the way the film equates football with war.

Mixed · 2Both reviews note the graphic violence and the film's treatment of Japanese characters. Collider says US soldiers use slurs and Japanese POWs are "brutally dehumanized", so the film feels "one-sided". IndieWire says the film "has no interest in humanizing the Japanese".

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left1 outlet

Framing
IndieWire's review is sharply critical, framing the film as a formulaic genre exercise that confuses football with war.
Emphasis
Thin characterisation, the brief game sequence, the football-as-war conceit and casting choices such as Pat McAfee.
Leaves out or plays down
Release plans appear only in the closing line; there is no discussion of Netflix's theatrical strategy.
Charged language
“formulaic”“cannon fodder”“asinine”
For example
“an unexceptional sports drama that falls well short of a first down.” — IndieWire
“It’s one thing to argue that football is war, and another, much more asinine thing to argue that war is football.” — IndieWire

Centre1 outlet

Framing
Collider pairs a business-and-release news piece, treating the film as an awards contender and part of Netflix's theatrical push, with a mixed-to-positive review.
Emphasis
Netflix's theatrical strategy, release dates, and the performances and the visceral staging in the review, alongside concerns about one-sidedness.
Leaves out or plays down
The news piece gives little detail on the film's content. The review does not dwell on the brevity of the game sequence.
Charged language
“Gritty, Gruesome”“Pulls No Punches”“major awards contender”
For example
“the streamer is releasing another major awards contender theatrically.” — Collider
“The Mosquito Bowl is an undeniably punishing watch, but for all its harrowing horrors, it stands as an emotionally resonant tribute that is worth enduring.” — Collider

Right0 outlets

No right outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.

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