Languid expose of US drone warfare from the operators' perspective. Good intentions but lacks real tension, becomes repetitive. For me, it became too involved with effects on Major Egan's personal relationship. "Drones" is a better treatment of the same subject. Even though that film may lack some of the background (political) detail given here it is more gripping. And the Afghani targets become more real than here where they remain figures on a screen.

The film is about a drone pilot played by Ethan Hawk who feels conflicted about killing people with drones , half a world away. It could have been an interesting film, allowing us a glimpse into a world we have heard about but have never seen. However, it devolves so blatantly into the Hollywood mantra of today "Women and kids are worthy, men don't matter"The subject matter regarding a person struggling with his ability to kill people at his fingertips is handled halfway decently, and we see Hawk and the other pilots worry about killing women and children several times. However, consistent with American culture today adult men are portrayed as expendable, all probably guilty of something. When they blow up a house or group, there is always supposedly good intelligence guiding the decision to kill them. Obviously serving as judge, jury and executioner for large groups is going to raise the possibility of error. Not only do they only seem to worry about the women and children, but they insert an awkward subplot in which a bad guy serially rapes a women, and then they kill him surgically . Of course, the female victim narrowly escapes injury or death, and as the smoke clears a small, innocent child runs into her arms, Ummmmmhummm....Since the bad guy was not an identified target it is a vigilant kill. However, there is no consideration of their accuracy in determining his guilt, and if it is mistaken identity- oh well...... a pilot conflicted by the killings can sleep well that night anyway. It seems contrived and simplistic, but consistent with a disturbing trend that violence is justified as long as it's against men, because we probably did something to deserve it.

Major Thomas Egan (Ethan Hawke) is a F-16 pilot married to Molly (January Jones) with two kids. He is currently flying drones and going home to his family. He would like to go back to flying F-16s but the Air Force is changing. He is disconnected from his wife. His commander Lt. Colonel Jack Johns (Bruce Greenwood) bemoans the lost of real flying and the recruiting of video game playing kids. They are put under the command of a CIA controller only as a voice over the phone. New airman Vera Suarez (Zoë Kravitz) starts questioning the ethics of the missions. The constant moral ambiguity drives Thomas into a decline.This is a movie about one moral ambiguity of war. It's not that subtle. Ethan Hawke delivers a solid performance. At the end of the day, he's killing people whether he's flying a drone or flying a fighter jet. The movie advocates against something that may not be agreeable to all audiences. It's not a great enough film to transcend that divide.

So this movie's genre actually falls under a "thriller" and war, hence the reason I watched it. The description about a drone pilot and the Taliban is only a minor part of this story. If you are looking for action packed war drama or thriller, check out something like BHD or ZDT. This movie is solely here to show the viewer the effects that war can have on someone that isn't even on the ground in a fighting country. The effects it can have on ones family. Morality plays big in this movie and I found that the plot, even in its misdirection, was a very solid lesson for all. The title of this movie is also fantastic. Well done, good acting, a little wobbly on script, but a solid watch.