Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows

Theaters of War

Play trailer Poster for Theaters of War 2022 1h 27m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
Tomatometer 1 Reviews Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
If you've seen Top Gun or Transformers, you may have wondered: Does all of that military machinery on screen come with strings attached? Does the military actually get a crack at the script? Theaters of War digs deep into a vast new trove of recently released internal government documents to bring the answers to these questions into sharp focus. Traveling across America, filmmaker and media scholar Roger Stahl engages an array of other researchers, bewildered veterans, PR insiders, and industry producers willing to talk. In unsettling and riveting detail, he discovers how the military and CIA have pushed official narratives while systematically scrubbing scripts of war crimes, corruption, racism, sexual assault, coups, assassinations, and torture. From The Longest Day to Lone Survivor, Iron Man to Iron Chef, and James Bond to Jack Ryan, Theaters of War uncovers an alternative "cinematic universe" that stands as one of the great Pentagon PR coups of our time. As these activities gain new public scrutiny, new questions arise: How have they managed to fly under the radar for so long? And where do we go from here?

Critics Reviews

View All (1) Critics Reviews
Ally Ham Video Librarian Magazine A cohesive and well-researched deep dive into the problem of military influence in the film industry and Hollywood’s self-censorship. Aug 11, 2024 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (2) audience reviews
Lawrence K A really eye-opening and insightful film. It's more important than ever to understand how our perceptions are managed by media. You'll be much better informed and wiser by the end of this film. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 08/13/23 Full Review Matt O Well researched, and well presented. Lots of interesting and relevant info. Interesting factoid: The Director / Editor / Narrator also did all the GFX/animation himself too. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 08/11/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Theaters of War

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

View All Cast and Crew

Roger Stahl

Director

Roger Stahl

Narrator

Matthew Alford

Producer

Tom Secker

Producer

Sebastian Kaempf

Producer

Roger Stahl

Film Editor
View All Theaters of War photos

Theaters of War

View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis If you've seen Top Gun or Transformers, you may have wondered: Does all of that military machinery on screen come with strings attached? Does the military actually get a crack at the script? Theaters of War digs deep into a vast new trove of recently released internal government documents to bring the answers to these questions into sharp focus. Traveling across America, filmmaker and media scholar Roger Stahl engages an array of other researchers, bewildered veterans, PR insiders, and industry producers willing to talk. In unsettling and riveting detail, he discovers how the military and CIA have pushed official narratives while systematically scrubbing scripts of war crimes, corruption, racism, sexual assault, coups, assassinations, and torture. From The Longest Day to Lone Survivor, Iron Man to Iron Chef, and James Bond to Jack Ryan, Theaters of War uncovers an alternative "cinematic universe" that stands as one of the great Pentagon PR coups of our time. As these activities gain new public scrutiny, new questions arise: How have they managed to fly under the radar for so long? And where do we go from here?
Director
Roger Stahl
Producer
Matthew Alford, Tom Secker, Sebastian Kaempf
Distributor
Media Education Foundation
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
May 5, 2022
Runtime
1h 27m