Netflix's New Star-Studded War Epic Divides Critics In First Reviews

Published Oct 23, 2026, 6:20 PM EDT Fariba Rezwan is a Lead Editor for the Movie News team. She has been with ScreenRant for nearly five years, with roles ranging from list editor to junior news editor. During that time, Fariba has led coverage for breaking movies and TV news, including Hunger Games, Marvel, and streaming. Additionally, she has actively provided commentary and reactions to the biggest movies and shows on her YouTube channel, The Movieception Show. Netflix is releasing another epic war movie this fall. Award season has now started, and Netflix is promoting its epic war movie, La Bola Negra, for consideration. It's earned critical acclaim and won multiple festival awards, including Best Director at Cannes, and it has since become a frontrunner for Best Picture. Interestingly, La Bola Negra isn't just a war movie coming from Netflix. The streamer will also distribute Peter Berg's upcoming movie, The Mosquito Bowl, which is a mix of war and sports. Based on Buzz Bissinger's 2022 novel, The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in World War II, the story follows four American football players who enlist in the United States Marine Corps. The war movie details the famous titular football game before the Battle of Okinawa. Nicholas Galitzine, Bill Skarsgård, Ray Nicholson, and Tom Francis play the main quartet, while Brent Comer, Pat McAfee, and Ella Newton join the supporting cast. Following its world premiere at the 2026 AFI Film Festival, the first reviews for The Mosquito Bowl are in. According to the consensus, the film's visceral images of the Battle of Okinawa are its strong points, and even the sound mixing hits a high technical level. However, it feels more like style than substance, and the four football players' development lacks depth. Scratch & Peek Identify the cover art while scratching off as little foil as possible. Deadline's Pete Hammond overwhelmingly praises the Netflix adaptation, calling it "one of the most effective antiwar films" because it "never resorts to preaching or false patriotic rah-rah posturing." Furthermore, Berg "does not hold back in showing the true horrors of the fight, in this case a noble one." The Hollywood Reporter's Angie Han seems more mixed, saying the technical elements of the war battles are "the saving grace" but that "its storytelling falls well short of that bar." She adds that the war visuals "favor close shots that force us to experience battle much like our heroes do, as confusing, terrifying bursts of mayhem." Unfortunately, that's all the movie provides, given that the soldiers' fates "get passed around like rumor." Lastly, Next Best Picture's Matt Neglia noted that Berg was the creative force behind the football classic Friday Night Lights and the war movie Lone Survivor, both of which received praise. So, with The Mosquito Bowl blending the genres the filmmaker previously tackled, it comes with "mixed results." The review does note that the war epic "has its fair share of thrilling and pulverizing set pieces," even though the premise has been tackled many times. Like the others, Neglia lauds its technical achievements in depicting war brutality, but the four main characters were underdeveloped despite Skarsgård, Nicholson, and Francis' engaging performances. As of now, those are the only official reviews available online, but more are expected in the days leading up to its theatrical release. The Mosquito Bowl will hit theaters on October 30, 2026, before coming to Netflix on November 25, 2026. Release Date October 30, 2026 Runtime 127 Minutes Director Peter Berg Cast Nicholas Galitzine John McLaughry Brent Comer George Murphy Claudia Ware Frances Langford Writers Mark L. Smith, Peter Berg Producers Brian Grazer, Peter Berg, Alexander H. Gayner