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There’s something deeply comforting about a movie that knows exactly what it is. War Machine doesn’t pretend to be arthouse sci-fi or a meditative treatise on artificial intelligence.
Patrick Hughes’ latest film doesn’t try to reinvent the circuitry. Instead, it leans into the glorious, high-decibel tradition of late-’80s and early-’90s macho action cinema — the kind where sweat glistens, trees explode, and nobody goes for a whisper if they can give a shout. It drops you in the wilderness with a squad of Army Rangers, unleashes a skyscraper-sized nemesis, and lets the bullets — and biceps — fly.
And bless it for that. If you’re an action girlie who has ever mourned the era of Predator and Demolition Man, consider this your love letter back. If you’re there for cute guys, you’ll find your call answered.
Among the chaos and carnage, Perth-born actor Blake Richardson announces himself. As “15” — the Rangers’ resident smartarse and the unit’s pressure valve, i.e., an essential action-movie subtype — he’s all swagger on the surface, with something softer underneath.
“When I first got the sides for the audition, I just felt like I immediately knew who 15 was,” Richardson tells me. “Doesn’t happen often. But I just felt like I knew exactly how he saw the world, how he saw himself. He needed a bit of charm, a bit of humour, but also a little bit of heart.”
Richardson’s own journey to this point has had its own plot twists. The Perth-raised actor wanted to perform since childhood, eventually auditioned for WAAPA (Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts) in his early twenties and landed a place at drama school. Then came COVID — and with it, a pause on the industry. He pivoted, almost out of necessity, to stand-up comedy.
“Acting went away, and I just had to perform — I had to do something with myself,” he says. “Stand-up was still available. And in Western Australia, we had a very harsh lockdown of, you know, 37 minutes, so after that was done, it all opened back up.” He grins. “I just started performing stand-up almost out of survival. And then I fell in love with it.”
That comedic instinct has served him well. In a film as relentlessly intense as War Machine — all artillery and adrenaline — Richardson’s 15 gives a moment for the audience to catch its breath and a foil for Alan Ritchson’s deeply serious and tortured 6’5″ 81. (Richardson said he toughest bit of acting was pretending he’d ever give Alan Ritchson any lip.)
“I knew how important it was to give the audience an opportunity to breathe and to laugh,” he says. “The director and writer James Botha were so collaborative about it. [They asked] ‘What do you think’s funny? How do we make this moment work?’ That was awesome.”
Below, Blake Richardson talks romance, women who have inspired him, War Marchine and what’s next.
Are there any formative female movie characters that really stick out in your memory that have inspired you?
“Oh geez Louise, that made me emotional very quickly. Definitely my mum. She had me when she was 18, and life’s not always been kind and fair, but she’s just been the most incredible mother, from start to finish. Not finished — she’s not done yet. She’s been the consistency in my life, unconditional love, all those things.
“I grew up with younger sisters as well, and I’ve always sort of been a paternal figure to them — had to step up as a father figure at times. So I’d say my mum and my sisters, but primarily my mother. She’s just the embodiment of a strong woman.”
Is there anything you envy about women?
His fiancée is pregnant with their first child, due in August, and the question barely needs asking. “There’s no more humbling thing than to watch someone grow a person. We’d talk about what was happening inside her each week while she’s growing this baby, and I’d be like — right now, you’re making ear holes! That’s impossible! How are you doing that?
“It’s just incredible. Women give all life on Earth, and when you really start to think about it, it gets bonkers. And it’s not to circle back too much to my mother, but I just don’t think there’s anything quite as powerful as a mother’s love. There’s just this mother’s strength that trumps all physical strength. It’s just something really, really powerful.”
Are there any formative female movie characters who stick out in your memory?
“The first one that jumps out is Rachel Weisz in The Mummy. Just unbelievable — so magnetic, electric. It was just a different feeling. And most recently Rachel McAdams — Rachel’s always been incredible, but I think now she’s starting to age into those roles where she really gets to showcase a lot of other colours.
“I walked out of the cinema thinking she’s going to be up there with Meryl by the time she’s done. And I still haven’t seen Hamnet, but I watched the trailer and Jessie Buckley popped up — I’ve not seen her in anything — and it was that same thing as Rachel Weisz in The Mummy. Just: who are you? What is this? This is just a trailer and I’m all in. Those are three female presences that really made me go, what is that? They make you feel terrified that you don’t do the same thing.”
Do you consider yourself a romantic? What’s the most romantic thing you’ve ever done?
“I would say I’m romantic. The most romantic thing I’ve ever done — I’d have to go back to primary school. I stole my mother’s jewellery and gifted it to the first love I ever had, who was in the year above me. I turned up in year two with this necklace and said, ‘I bought this for you.’ Her mother was like, I don’t think a nine-year-old bought you a necklace. And then there was a meeting, and an exchange of the jewellery back to my mother. But that’s always been in me.”
These days, romance looks a little different. Richardson and his fiancée met at a CrossFit gym in Perth — she came in, she’s from country Victoria, and by his account didn’t notice him at all. “I like to say that eventually I took my shirt off in the gym, and then all of a sudden look who wants to have a chat,” he says. “She argues that. But we were friends at first — I’d just come out of a bad relationship, I was gung-ho about acting, I was like, no. But she’s just the best. She’s such a beautiful person inside and out, makes me be at my best. This industry is so up and down, but she’s just a constant. Now we just love being together and being simple — a local Italian restaurant, a good chat, catch up about life. That’s our idea of romance.”
So, what’s next?
Richardson is currently back in Australia, filming a role on what he’ll only describe as “the longest-running serial drama in Australian TV history” — 38 years and counting, he adds, helpfully. “It’s a quite controversial character, and the subject matter is really sensitive. It’s been nice to approach it with respect and try to do it justice.” Beyond that, the auditions are coming in thick and fast in the wake of War Machine’s release.
“I just kept plugging away until eventually our number was called,” he says. “And the number was 15.”
War Machine is streaming now on Netflix.
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