A24 and Alex Garland's 'Warfare' opens in Korea on August 19

Warfare, an A24 action film from director Alex Garland and Iraq War veteran Ray Mendoza, opens at Megabox on August 19.

The story centers on a 2006 Iraq battle in Ramadi. A Navy SEAL team dug into a house behind enemy lines to secure a movement corridor for U.S. forces gets cut off. What follows is their fight for survival, shown as it happened—no compression, no cuts. Garland and Mendoza stripped away the usual war-film theatrics. The real-time structure means audiences live through the same hours the soldiers did.

Garland had walked away from directing after Civil War: Age of Fracture. Then he changed his mind. "This story must be told," he said. Mendoza was actually there in Ramadi in 2006. He came on as co-writer and co-director, and actor Dipalo Unatai plays his younger self.

The cast: Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things), Charles Melton (May December), Will Poulter (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3), and Kit Connor (Heartstopper). All four shaved their heads. They trained for three weeks at an actual Navy SEAL facility before shooting started.

Garland directed Ex Machina, Southern Reach: Annihilation, and Dredd. He wrote 28 Days Later, Sunshine, and Never Let Me Go. He also wrote the novel The Beach. With Mendoza in the room, this is as much testimony as cinema.

Warfare opens at Megabox on August 19.