The year is 2036. America is trying to keep the peace in Eastern Europe especially Ukraine. In addition to aerial drones, the military is also using robotic soldiers called Gumps. Drone pilot Harp (Damson Idris) disobeys order and fires a missile close to the troupes killing two American soldiers. For his reprimand, he is reassigned to follow Captain Leo (Anthony Mackie) on an out-of-the-box ground mission to track down pro-Russian terrorist leader Victor Koval who aims to start a nuclear war.

Ukraine doesn't have nukes. Even with the most outrageous conspiracy theory, nobody ever accuses Ukraine of having nukes. It doesn't make political sense. Russia wouldn't let them. The west would disown them. They had to decommission all their nukes before being allowed into the European economic system. I lay this down as my first point because it's indicative of the entire movie. This is trying to be a near future reality. It wants to be realistic. It's not. That gets annoying after awhile. Even with the food truck standoff, non of the combatants are taking cover. Everybody is standing out in the open and nobody is keeping an eye on the high ground. Once I realized that this is a dumb action movie, it does have its fun but the movie keeps thinking that it's smarter than it is. I love the Asimov conundrum being injected but it just reminds me that there is a smart script somewhere in here. It's smart one minute but gets dumb in the next. I also don't like the Gumps. Somebody would realize that it's useful for some Gumps to pack a bigger punch. They would at least have grenade launchers.

Outside the Wire is a futuristic Training Day meets I Robot via The Terminator.

Set in the year 2036. Eastern Europe is in civil war with the US is serving a peacekeeping mission.

Harp (Damson Idris) is a young drone pilot operating out of Nevada. For disobeying orders, Harp is court martialed and sent to the demilitarized zone in Eastern Europe. The aim is for him to learn about his mistake as he mingles among human soldiers at the sharp end.

He meets Captain Leo (Anthony Mackie) who is an enhanced cyborg soldier. Harp will go with Captain Leo on a special mission to go after a warlord who wants to get hold of some nuclear missiles.

Whereas Harp faces anger from other soldiers over his mistake. Captain Leo seems to be more forgiving but he is operating his own agenda.

Outside the Wire aims to be a philosophical action movie. Leo and Harp debate about the rules of AI which is akin to Asimov's rules of robotics.

There are some good action scenes and some good special effects. It is also incoherent, cliched with some terrible dialogue.

A not bad Netflix sci-fi action movie with a familiar premise and plenty of action to take your mind off said familiarity. This one's a buddy-cop type thriller which sees a couple of soldiers posted to Eastern Europe to battle a terrorist insurrection. The main guy is a newcomer to acting and it shows, although Anthony Mackie is better in the show-off cyborg role. The first half is a little much when it comes to the plotting, but it segues into fun, JOHN WICK-style action in the second half and there's a lot of it too.