Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza’s visceral war drama Warfare chronicles a real operation that took place during the immediate fallout of the Battle of Ramadi during the Iraq War, and one of the key personnel in the incident was Joe Hildebrand, the inspiration real SEAL behind Joseph Quinn’s character. Co-directed by celebrated filmmaker Alex Garland and former Navy SEAL Ray Mendoza in his directorial debut, Warfare retells the events of a deadly attack in real time. The movie is entirely based off the memories of the soldiers who were part of the incident.
While Garland and Mendoza, who is portrayed by D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai in Warfare, changed many of the names of the other Navy SEALs in the platoon that came under attack from grenades, gunfire, and an IED. While many of the real soldiers’ faces are blurred out at the end of the movie to maintain anonymity, the real identity of Joseph Quinn’s Petty Officer Sam character has been confirmed to be Joe Hildebrand. Hildebrand is one of the soldiers whose memories informed the overall vision for the harrowing action of Warfare.
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Joe Hildebrand Was Part Of The Ramadi Operation In Real-Life
Joseph Quinn’s Character Is Confirmed To Be Based On Hildebrand
Joseph Quinn portrays a renamed version of Joe Hildebrand, who was a real member of Ray Mendoza’s platoon as depicted in Warfare. In the movie, Hildebrand’s stand-in character named Pat is one of the two men whose legs are shredded by an IED blast that went off as the men were attempting to evacuate the house that had quickly become a death trap. The former Navy SEAL was in his second platoon with Mendoza during the real events depicted in the movie, and Hildebrand actually attended a Q&A about Warfare along with Mendoza and other veterans.
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Warfare – Key Details |
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Release Date |
Budget |
RT Tomatometer Score |
RT Popcornmeter Score |
Metacritic Metascore |
Metacritic User Score |
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April 11th, 2025 |
$20 million |
93% |
92% |
76 |
6.7/10 |
Hildebrand was present on the set during the filming of Warfare, and was able to connect with the young actors portraying him and his comrades. Per The Hollywood Reporter, in a wild coincidence, Hildebrand was among the veterans who approached Michael Gandolfini (CAPT McDonald in the movie) to inform him that they had received watches from his father, James Gandolfini. In 2006, the iconic actor Gandolfini sent watches to Navy SEALs injured in combat, and one of the watches found its way to Hildebrand and Elliott Miller, the other soldier seriously injured in the action.
Who The Other Real-Life Navy SEALs In Warfare Are
Many Of The SEAL Names Were Changed Or Omitted For The Movie
While all the soldiers depicted in Warfare are based on real people, Ray Mendoza and the rest of the crew behind the movie took great care to preserve the anonymity of those soldiers who didn’t wish to have their identities revealed or be connected to the movie. However, despite having his character renamed in the movie, Hildebrand was comfortable confirming his identity and participating in the movie’s promotion. He spoke with TIME and provided some real insight into how important Warfare was to the soldiers who the movie was about:
Joe Hildebrand, one of the real Navy SEALs injured in the botched Ramadi operation, says that after nearly a decade spent internalizing feelings about that day, working on the film was cathartic, explaining, “I don’t think any of us really started to heal until this movie.”
In addition to Hildebrand and Mendoza confirming their identities, the character played by Cosmo Jarvis, the medic and lead sniper Elliott Miller, has his real name used in the movie. Miller was the other soldier besides Hildebrand who suffered devastating injuries in the Ramadi operation. He lost a leg and suffered a traumatic brain injury that left him with no memory of the attack and no ability to speak; Warfare is dedicated to him. Warfare is a powerful cinematic experience for any moviegoer, but its importance to the men who survived the attack can not be overstated.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter, TIME
Warfare
7/10
- Release Date
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April 11, 2025
- Runtime
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96 minutes
- Producers
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Allon Reich, Andrew Macdonald, Matthew Penry-Davey