Plenty has been said about — not all of it necessarily complimentary — but there is no denying that he has played a key role in shaping the “military action” landscape in the past few years. In Reacher, Ritchson plays Jack Reacher, a former major in the United States Army Military Police Corps. The skills he earned during his days as a serviceman benefit him greatly whenever he faces off against miscreants. The friends he made during his days in the military are also very loyal to him.

In Guy Ritchie’s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, Ritchson portrays Anders Lassen, a Danish military officer who was the only non-Commonwealth recipient of the Victoria Cross during World War II. In the movie, Lassen is a key cog in Operation Postmaster, an off-the-books black-ops mission to disrupt the Nazis' U-boat resupply operation on the Spanish-controlled island of Fernando Po. Back in 2020, Ritchson also starred in another World War II movie: Ghosts of War, which is ideal for both horror and war fans.

Ghosts of War was directed by Eric Bress, whose flair for terror and innovative cinematography can be seen in many of his movies, but seldom more so than in this. The war flick plunges us straight into the bubbling cauldron of the Allied campaign across France during World War II.

— Private Butchie (Alan Ritchson), Lieutenant Chris (Brenton Thwaites), Corporal Eugene (Skylar Astin), and Private Kirk (Theo Rossi), and Private Tappert (Kyle Gallner) — . Once they arrive, They also

The troopers then . The father was burned alive, the daughter was hanged, and the son was drowned in a bathtub. And as Eugene is interpreting another Morse code message,

Well, the warning is clear, but the troopers figure they cannot stay in this hellish place. . Quick thinking is thus required. Upon going through several ideas, they conclude that giving the Helwigs a proper burial will calm the supernatural forces.

End of movie? Not even close. After the burial,the diary's language suddenly changes from German to Arabic, and in what’s undoubtedly one of the craziest horror-war movie twists..

One of their key missions involved evacuating a family called the Helwigs, who had been helping the Americans. But when an Islamic State patrol ambushed them, the troopers opted to hide and watched as the Helwigs were slaughtered. . So why did the movie have a World War II setting? Why did it even show Nazis at the beginning? We’ll let you find out.

. For the most part, the heroes tend to be helpless, frantically finding ways to survive rather than confronting the threat head-on. From Saw to The Thing, the examples are endless.

Such a narrative structure is heavily used in Ghosts of War. Here, . When the violence gets underway, frenzied spells of Tarantino-style gory excess come in quickly and fiercely, interspersed with gallant, almost outrageous, eruptions of panic-driven actions. Their weapons are useless, and their attempts to escape prove pointless because they are trapped in a time loop. They are thus left with no option but to hope for the best. This kind of awesomeness was to be expected, considering director Eric Bress made two Final Destination movies.

, not those where they have an easy time against the enemy. These films showcase war, not as a facile boys' day out in which few get hurt, but as a real representation of the physical and psychological burden. Picture Full Metal Jacket, where the men undergo a torturous stint at a boot camp, then they are obliterated by a mysterious sniper when they head to Vietnam. Or picture Lone Survivor, where seemingly capable SEALs are annihilated by Afghan fighters, leaving only one person standing in the end.

In Ghosts of War, the troopers take plenty of punishment. Being stuck in a haunted house proves traumatic for them. Even worse, the spirits try to attack them and kill them using the same methods that the members of the Afghan family were killed. It isn’t until the final moments of the movie that respite truly comes, and even then, it’s hinted that another threat looms in the shadows.

Ghosts of War is the kind of film that ought to have pushed its stars to greater Hollywood heights. Unfortunately, it was released at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, hence, very few people ever knew about it. After a brief stint in theaters (where it only grossed $345,289), it was released on DirecTV. But.

At the time of its release, Alan Ritchson hadn’t become a major star yet. Even though he had starred in hit shows like Blue Mountain State, Black Mirror, Smallville, and Titans, Hollywood still saw him as a supporting player. His presence in the movie thus couldn’t help push the financial figures in any way.

If Ghosts of War was released today, it would arguably perform better, not only because , but also because . Right now, he has five movies in the pipeline, including a Christmas action comedy with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Awkwafina, and an action thriller that sits in the same yard as the early Fast & Furious movies.

There’s also good news for those who loved Alan Ritchson in Ghosts of War and The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. The actor isn’t done with war-themed movies. Ritchson is set to star in War Machine, a film about the final recruits of a military special ops boot camp who find themselves dealing with a deadly force from another world. The concept sounds incredible, and we have faith in the outcome, considering that the film is directed by Patrick Hughes (The Hitman's Bodyguard and The Expendables 3).

With many of these releases still months away, now is the perfect time to watch Ghosts of War and sink your mind into the complexities of war. Although it is let down somewhat by its thin B-movie character development and excessive irksome bouts of pacifist activism, this film remains a landmark in its respective genres, breaking new ground by covering two major global conflicts in a mere 90 minutes. It serves as some form of visual allegory for the kind of shared madness that often sees powerful nations embrace asinine barbarism in a quest for the vaguest of goals at a cost that defies sensibility and comprehension. Watch it on Apple TV+ and Fandango at Home. But be warned. The proceedings get really spooky.