Black Mirror (TV Series) Men Against Fire (2016) User Reviews

Intensely disturbing.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 30 December 2018]

Men against Fire is a classic episode of Black Mirror, it has so many things going for it, but for me, it's the what if scenario posed by the episode that's most impactful. It asks the terrifying question, what if the Military could command what soldiers saw? What if they had the ability to remove free will. It is a terrifying scenario, removing conscience from the military.

Malachi Kirby and Michael Kelly are both incredible, Kirby injects a life, a compassion and a sense of awareness into his performance, he in particular was superb.

Easy to follow, despite dealing with complex subjects, it never feels too clever for its own good. Very well made indeed, superb production values, as always.

Powerful, hard hitting drama 9/10.

A brilliant episode shedding light on the possibilities and consequences of mass manipulation, subtle propaganda and systematic control

[winner-98765 · 9/10 · 29 April 2018]

We all have different expectations of what an episode of Black Mirror should be, but this, for me, is it. The indirect exposure to the social ills that plague us, to the systematic exploitation of our brothers and sisters, to the possible disastrous effects of future technologies, to the brutal efficacy with which we are controlled.

This episode is brilliantly acted, written and directed. It takes you into the character's mind and you see and hear only what they know. We mostly look through the lens of our own beliefs and view points, and reject the others. And you, along with the main character, slowly stumble upon the truth, which can only be established by considering everything. You will slowly begin to realize what is truly happening here, and you couldn't help but praise the ingenuity with which this was done.

We as a species have always been invested in making progress, increasing our knowledge, and making ourselves smart. A soundproof way to doing that is by eliminating genes that inhibit us, and helping the propagation of only those genes which help us. This has been a key propaganda issue in the 20th century and this century and is very likely to be the focus as we make progress in DNA mapping and genetic engineering. Just as we have designed dogs to be cute, playful and loyal by killing those which lack these qualities, we can design our future population too. To do that we need to have control over the populace and have means to control them, you need to have enough power and sway to contain any rebellious elements. The episode conveys this effortlessly, not once appearing to try to hard.

A true Black Mirror episode. I only wish the ending scene with Doug could have been better executed.

The season's most thought-provoking episode

[TouchTheGarlicProduction · 7/10 · 22 October 2016]

To me, this episode felt more like an episode of Black Mirror than any other this season. The thing I like most about this series is the way that it makes me ask myself ethical questions that I never would have thought about otherwise while I'm watching. It brings up the topic of morality relative to near future technology. That is what has been in some ways lacking from this season... until this episode. Admittedly, the episode is a little bit heavy-handed at times, a little predictable at others. But at least it was working with big ideas, putting them out there, and making me think. For that reason and that reason alone, I liked it more than any other this season.

The episode follows future soldiers as they hunt down and kill genetically inferior "roaches" in some part of Europe. The subjects of eugenics, consent, and propaganda in the modern age are all brought into question by the episode.

Great episode, negatove reviews are for the wrong reasons

[ikke61 · 10/10 · 15 March 2018]

This episode was fantastic. The acting was amazing, the best and most engaging I've seen yet in black mirror (I watched S1, S2 and a couple of episodes from S3 and S4). But the most interesting part was the plot. The subject is more relevant then ever. Watch this one, don't be alarmed by the negative reviews as I'll explain next!

Of the negative reviews I read here one says it should have been about religious brainwashing as that has happened before. You have got the wrong series buddy, black mirror is a look into the future. And in the current age of splinternet bubbles, fake news and in the (not too distant) future AI and nueralink-type developments this topic is exceptionally up to date and this episode is extremely relevant.

Of the other negative reviews most of them say this premise has been done in a show called the outer limits, which is why they gave it a low rating. What nonsensical reasoning, everything has been done before. I don't know why you guys bothered to write a review.

The most disturbing episode, should be submitted for an Emmy

[user-847-318571 · 18 December 2016]

I'm no stranger to series skewed towards irony and twists. I love Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, so I should have predicted what was coming here. But I was somewhat blindsided by this one. It fits in along with the overarching theme of technology being a double- edged sword, and if something looks feels and smells real, how can one tell what is real and what isn't? Almost like an existential Turing test for reality. This is a recurring theme in almost all Black Mirror episodes. The audience is again left questioning reality. But this particular episode kind of hits close to home. Especially given the events happening around the world nowadays. I can't say anymore without giving too much away. For any Twilight Zone fans out there, do yourself a solid and watch this episode.

Very disturbing...and if they COULD do this, I bet they would....

[planktonrules · 10/10 · 30 June 2017]

Although it's from season three, this is the first episode I saw of "Black Mirror"...and considering how good it is, it was a good place to start.

The show is set in the near future. Soldiers from some sort of international armed forces unit are battling 'roaches', though the roaches aren't bugs but people...or they are kinda people. While they are humanoid, their mouths are freaking and inhuman and so is their language. They are very scary looking...and the soldiers know it's only proper that these 'things' are wiped out once and for all. The problem is that one of the soldiers is having problems with his implants...and they all receive some sort of implants...and where this goes is what makes this one memorable and exciting to watch.

This show has a lot to say...but I don't want to discuss this now since you may not have seen the show and talking about the implants would ruin the suspense. Suffice to say, the show is clever and a bit of a scare since it seems possible such horrible technology COULD one day be created.

Weapon of MASS Destruction

[scottsetchell · 6/10 · 29 April 2019]

Updated Review - 10/13/2023

At the start of this rewatch, I had completely forgotten everything about this episode. The plot slowly came back to me as it went along, but it was as if my mind was wiped clean like the MASS implant did to these soldiers. Within the first three minutes, I was distracted by the Baby Kate crying sound effect that's been subliminally planted in my brain from watching Arthur as a child. This is usually a sign of laziness and mediocrity.

I was unimpressed with the editing, as it felt choppy with constant quick cuts. The directing has it's moments of intensity using slo-mo and circling shots but it feels basic much of the time combined with the editing. The CGI is serviceable but not great. The final 15 minutes or so in the white room reveals all we needed to know without covering a ton of ground beforehand. The episode is carried by Malachi Kirby's performance and the action sequences.

As I was watching, I was thinking of better films that it vaguely resembles such as I Am Legend and Edge of Tomorrow. My original review is very well written and was received with praise but sadly I didn't have the same experience this time around. Men Against Fire contains heavy themes that are worth exploring but it clearly didn't leave as much of a substantial impact as I originally thought it did.

6/10

.

.

.

Review from 4/29/2019

Stripe is woken up by Hunter during an erotic dream. They're apart of a military group that have MASS implants, that enhance their senses and see an augmented reality. Their squad is lead by Medina, who takes them on a new mission.

The squad infiltrates a farm house they believe is harboring mutated humans they call roaches. Medina interrogates the farm owner while Stripe and Hunter clear the house. They find a secret door, revealing a nest of roaches. One of them points an LED device at Stripe and they open fire. They arrest the farm owner and burn the house down.

Stripe experiences glitches with his MASS interface during training. After an examination, he's told nothing is wrong. Stripe, Hunter and Medina arrive at a housing complex to search for roaches. Medina is killed by a sniper and they move inside the complex. Stripe finds a woman and Hunter kills her. Stripe stops her from killing a mother and child.

The MASS implant these soldiers are given wipes their memory and gives the military control over what they can see. It's explained that a majority of soldiers don't want to kill or even fire a gun. The soldiers augmented reality allows the military to pull off genocide and reward them with lucid sex dreams as a reward for killing people they deem inferior.

Jakob Verbruggen directs this episode in a way that puts you in the perspective of a soldier discovering the true meaning of his actions. In some parts it feels like a video game, showing first person views with a gun in hand. The acting is very good overall with a standout performance by Malachi Kirby as Stripe.

Men Against Fire is a sci-fi action drama that questions the use of advanced technology in warfare, the dehumanization of soldiers and psychological consequences of mass murder. It's another great episode in Season 3.

9/10.

Other reviews make me quiver

[nezbitkn2 · 8/10 · 25 June 2019]

First and foremost, this is a good episode, just like the rest of the Black Mirror series.

To cut an extremely long and complicated story short (no sarcasm, honest) the military hypnotises (potentially implants too) voluntary recruits to the armed forces. This ensures they are viewing the human race (the damaging, disease ridden, destructive race that we are) as mutants that need to be destroyed before they destroy "us". It's a well planned out episode but merely telling a story we're more than accustomed to. Delete the lesser, power on with the stronger of the species (Hitler anyone? No?)

Anyway, the episode culminates after the main guy gets shone in the eyes by a laser which the "roaches" (also known as human beings) had constructed to help soldiers see the real them. He starts to realise and rebel resulting in a showdown with the mastermind of the project. He's given an option, continue to live in a world where he'll be hunted or be the hunter and he'll forget everything he's seen thus far.

The episode ends with his (presumably dead) wife running out to greet him after being dropped off at a now derelict home, which due to a quick flashback shows it used to be beautiful.

The ending is open to opinion, but I think it's more than apparent (and more apparent than some of the other explanations I've read on here) that she'd been deemed a "roach" and subsequently killed by the him and the military, hence his constant torture throughout the episode.

Enjoy and I hope you make similar sense.

The Military Mind

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 12 January 2018]

I truly believe that the most money and direction in most political entities is to give carte blanche to something military. Since survival is the most basic human emotion, we tend to want anything that facilitates that. When we talk about the advancement of culture, education, agriculture, infrastructure, the amount of money given to these is piddly compared to the military. And I'm talking about most countries in the world, not just ours. Think of Syria and Russia and northern African nations. I believe that if the kind of technology existed that was portrayed in this episode, there would be a group of zealots that would embrace it lovingly. Get rid of inferiority in our genetic make-up. The "Roaches" are just people with imperfections (as we all have) like possible cancer. Anyway, this is a really disturbing episode because it is possible. Hitler used the same premises that these guys did. Throw in religion, which is equally dangerous because it preaches its own superiority, and you've got the seeds of the worst kind of world.

One of the best episodes

[Q-Man · 9/10 · 20 November 2018]

I had no idea what to expect from this episode. I was expecting people vs. zombies, but it was much more. The idea of seeing the enemy as "the other" makes it easy to kill. It is almost a reflection of what we are experiencing now. This person doesn't look like me, has a different religion, skin color, language or sexual or, therefore he is less human than me. We know, or should know, that is not the case. We are all humans. The story and lesson are thought provoking, and the acting by Malachi Kirby as Stripe was outstanding. After watching two disappointing episodes, Metalhead and Crocodile, Men Against Fire was a return to the classic episodes of Black Mirror.

War, what is it good for?

[safenoe · 6/10 · 14 January 2021]

This is a deep episode that questions the morality of war, and whether a war can be a "good one". This episode doesn't rank highly amongst the Black Mirror fans, but it has a very serious tone that seeks to get the audience pondering about how the good guys see the bad ones. What is right? What is wrong? What are the grey areas?

Incredible

[emmamcchug · 10/10 · 8 September 2018]

I don't understand why this episode is so lowly rated. The episode made me think so much. And the ending, wow. While it's quite intense, very intense, I definitely recommend it to everyone just for the reflection alone.

Good ideas, but poor presentation and execution.makr this a poor episode for Black Mirror

[brianjohnson-20043 · 6/10 · 4 April 2019]

The episode begins rather strong. It made me interested in the protagonist and the overall arc. But they present too many clues for me to be surprised by the twists.

The content feels spoon-fed rather than particularly intriguing. And they had a lot of ideas for this episode where the presentation could have been more mysterious. But instead it feels slow, obvious and in the end, over-the-top vindictive and cruel. I know to not expect a fun or light topic for this series. But this one took some ideas which were potentially believable with improved technology and stretched them unnecessarily to where the antagonist became unbelievably cruel for the sake of exploring how evil some technology could become. Instead the goal should be creating an engrossing story related to the potential issues of technology. This one wallows in the issues too much. Nose dive was similar.

And that is what is so upsetting. In both episodes the stories have some good ideas, great acting, great sets and great costumes, but the stories aren't written in a particularly strong way to get the most out of the ideas. The ideas and work come off like a missed opportunity.

Almost Exactly Like "The Outer Limits" 1998 Episode "Hearts and Minds"

[MikeSNation · 3/10 · 10 February 2017]

I like Black Mirror but I was very disappointed by how unoriginal this episode ("Men Against Fire") is. I know a lot of people have not seen it, but The Outer Limits was a very good show - especially the original series from the 1950s or 1960s, but also the remake series which actually lasted seven seasons (five longer than the original!) which was shot in Canada I believe. Not all episodes were great but there were a lot of thoughtful and thought-provoking episodes that were great, often quite low budget, science fiction entries, much like Black Mirror or Twilight Zone.

In the Outer Limits episode, soldiers are not given brain implants to help them fight monsters but are instead given drugs to prevent them from being infected by the "alien" monsters they are fighting. Just like in this story, the actual effect the implant/drugs have are to make their very human enemies look like monsters so the soldiers will have no problem hunting and killing them. And in both stories one of the soldiers has an implant/drug injector malfunction, starts seeing the monsters in their true human forms, and tries to stop the senseless murder to no avail...

When I suspected early on this might be the case I was sure there'd be some different twist, but there never was... it's pretty much the exact same story. Very, very disappointing.

I don't care if it's been done before

[yazanrawashdeh91 · 10/10 · 13 April 2020]

Some of the reviewers here give bad reviews because they believe it's been done in the series called the outer limits, but that's a terrible reason as to rate this lowly, I loved every bit of the execution and I was on the edge of my seat, it's brilliant and no question about it if you objectively rate it.

I think, this season is even better. Hands down most artistic viewpoints of modern world.

[amitshakya90 · 9/10 · 22 October 2016]

A lot of people are frowning upon latest season. I don't see anything wrong with this season. I have found only one weak episode Playtest because of really weak ending. Other episodes are just mesmerizing and tells most horrific truth about life in best artistic way possible. I loved Men against Fire, which draws most realistic parallel between blindness and ruthlessness of war in very subtle way. I don't want to spoil it for others but just watch this season without giving much thoughts to previous seasons. My personal best till date is "San Junipero". I am really not sure, why people are agonizing against Netflix. Netflix is keeping these indie dramas alive in this retarded, half-witted sitcom sphere of Arrow, Person of Interest or Quantico s***.

3.5: Men Against Fire: Dramatic but food for thought too (SPOILERS)

[bob the moo · 8 January 2017]

To jump directly into the spoilers, this episode sees the military fighting a mutated foe of screeching and deformed humanoid creatures. When one character has his implanted enhancements interfered with in some way, it causes them to switch off and he sees that actually these monsters are just people, and that they have been hunting and killing unarmed civilians.

This is delivered in a dramatic way, where we start with the soldiers and quickly come to understand what is happening to Stripe, and therefore what has been decided at a high level. On a near- future level, the episode is interesting in how it sells its own logic. In the same way as the show Utopia was chilling because so much of it ran as logically possible to those with no moral core, so too does this world. Michael Kelly is very well cast as the person to explain it, because he is detached and logical in his justification. This aspect is not as strong regarding the reason they go to war against the roaches, however it works well enough, plus is not as interesting as the concept of helping people kill other people as easily as possible.

I watched this in the first week of 2017, and as a result this episode hit other nerves. These were the way that we already do this without the technology, and so of course we would if we had it. Whether it be the media or the politicians (or more and more, a collusion of both), we already are targeted to not see others as people – and this is not me pushing a liberal agenda here, because it is the same on all sides. However to see Russia, Muslims, white males, feminists, immigrants, and all other groups all being painted as monsters by different groups in order to justify their agenda and goals, it does feel like the same principle as here. This made it seem much closer as an idea and thus more engaging and chilling. The end of the episode is also really good because deep down I think almost everyone would make the same decision that Stripe does – we make it in much smaller ways, so of course we would in that scenario.

Another strong episode of a really good season. When I heard that Netflix had commissioned almost twice as many episodes as Brooker had previously made, I worried that the time-pressure and output would see quality drop but 5 episodes into the 12 and there is absolutely no sign of that.

unique take on common trope

[phenomynouss · 7/10 · 6 May 2017]

neat stuff, sick. not possible to properly review episode without spoilers, as tends to be the case with the series. The topic for this week is genetic engineering, eugenics, genetic diseases, and that sort of thing, probably most famously covered in science fiction by the movie "Gattaca".

the initial conceit is what may be some manner of minor post-apocalypse, in which soldiers with combat-enhancing implants hunt down and kill shrieking deformed monster-people called "Roaches". Then one of them hits the protagonist with an electronic tube with green lights, and stuff starts changing for him.

the big reveal is that there are no "Roaches", at least in terms of what the soldiers see; their implants directly affect their cognition (all their senses, not just sight) so that they see designated people they have to kill as shrieking monsters. they are actually killing normal civilian people who are "genetically inferior", pre-disposed to genetic deformations, diseases, illnesses, mental disorders, that sort of thing.

rather than handle the situation in a soft bigotry type of way like in "Gattaca" (where these types of people are tolerated but essentially second-class citizens) or trying to gently exterminate this via eugenics programs, the people in this episode have gone a seemingly overly complicated path to exterminate people with inferior genes, while also fixing the supposed "problem" of soldiers in war being hesitant to kill their enemies, ending up going out of their way to avoid actually hitting their opponent.

by literally dehumanizing their opponent, the soldiers can kill their enemies mercilessly with no lingering effects of PTSD or combat fatigue or mercy to their enemies.

while an interesting conceit, the execution seems troubled, with it taking just a bit too long and in a roundabout way to get to the big reveal, and then having to have it all explained in two separate Expo Dump monologues that end up leaving a small window of interesting self-reflection followed by heaping portions of fridge logic that linger long afterwards. Some of the major issues that you think up later; 1) Only the soldiers have the implant which makes genetic inferiors look like "Roaches". Thus, the other civilians in the area know that the "Roaches" are normal people who are infected. It seems highly likely that there would be a lot more people than the one supposedly crazy religious man hiding "Roaches" in their homes and keeping them safe, and that interactions between the soldiers and the civilians would eventually lead to the realization by one side or another that the "Roaches" aren't actually monsters.

2) The episode does a great job of avoiding any significant Nazi parallels, but I cannot imagine this situation they have of implanting soldiers to make them see the enemy as monsters would be universally accepted among all nations and/or fighting forces. It would seem that having one nation and/or one army going around mass murdering civilians in a European country they deem to be "genetically inferior" would not be a situation that would escape notice of other countries, who would most likely end up eventually uniting and attacking them to stop them.

3) Given the level of technology they have, it would be utterly impossible to keep something like this a secret.

Strong and mature content involved

[HabaneroBuck · 8/10 · 12 January 2017]

I find it interesting how everyone likes or dislikes different Black Mirror episodes in different proportions. A great deal of your opinion of an episode has to do with personal experiences and philosophies, a successful echo of the use of "Mirror" in the title.

Men Against Fire was really testing my patience for the first thirty minutes, the first time I had experienced agitation with an episode of the series. We have already seen so many of these themes with "History of You" and "Playtest" that the main character's fascination with the technology around him was belaboring any point that needed to be made. However, the episode did a fantastic job of bringing it all together and causing the viewer to re-examine previous events, a la "Shut Up and Dance". With a clever turn of events, all of the reasoning was explained to my satisfaction. Another solid theme explored by Season 3.

Black Mirror standard

[Gelaos · 7/10 · 14 October 2020]

I liked the military environment. Plus, unlike in other previous Season 3 episodes (except for Nosedive) the technology is crucial point of the story. Topic of propaganda and its spread via technology is, in today's "post-factual" times, highly relevant. The motive of eugenics is also up for discussion. Despite weaker last act it's stadnard BM episode.

The Future Soldier

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 22 April 2017]

In a post-apocalyptic near future, soldiers using implants that enhances their senses and provide data of their missions are fighting mutants called Roaches. When the squad of the rookie "Stripe" is assigned to help villagers that had their supplies stolen by roaches, they learn that they have head to the house of a farmer. The soldiers find a hideout of roaches and kill them. However one of the creatures points a device to Stripe but he is killed by the soldier. Soon his implant glitches every now and then and he is submitted to a medical examination and visits a psychologist and learns that he does not have any problem. On his next assignment, Stripe, Medina and Rai are assigned to another mission and Medina is killed by a sniper. Stripe and Rai enter in the building to hunt down the sniper. But soon Stripe learns the truth about the roaches and the purpose of the implants.

"Men Against Fire" is a scary view of the use of technology by the Lords of War in the warfare. Today it may be still fiction, but the way this industry is developing, it might be possible some interface to control and improve the soldiers' feelings and senses. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Men Against Fire"

Eugenics Pick N Mix

[injury-65447 · 6/10 · 18 June 2020]

Ok

At first I thought it was a pretty unoriginal take on a zombie movie, which it kind of is. The twist is simply that the "zombies" are just people with bad genetic traits. I was actually really enjoying the story for the first half or so.

A better twist for the episode would have been to have the device show the roaches as normal people - when in fact they really do have a dangerous contagious sickness, and it turns out the military are actually justifiable in their actions. At least then it would give the viewer something to think about. As it stands, it's completely obvious from the start that the roaches will turn out to be innocent people.

As another reviewer mentioned, history and the present day continue to show us that certain humans need no excuses to oppress others and visit violence upon other people who are different. The idea that a human would only kill another human if they resemble a literal monster is absurd to the point of farce - completely divorced from the reality of the world and human nature. A regime can always find violent thugs ready to get out there and guiltlessly follow orders.

The eugenics angle seems a little silly. If they had the blood results for these undesirables, why would they be eliminating them in such a haphazard way? Why wouldn't they take care of them at the time of the testing? It's possible I misunderstood the nature of the testing, or that they only decided later on to exterminate these people, or that they somehow escaped. I guess the bloodwork results wouldn't be instant. This version of administering eugenics just comes off as goofy.

It just seems odd to me that if the elites decided to exterminate these "inferior" people, that they would do it in such a bizarre way. The logic is that they want future generations to inherit good traits, but the world the "normal" villagers are living in looks crummy as hell anyway. It doesn't seem to me like they are caring about quality of life for the "normal" people, so why would they care so much if they got some bad genes? Wouldn't it make more sense for the well bred powerful people just to isolate themselves away from the undesirables?

The ideas of fascism and eugenics are completely unoriginal- to the point that the villain comes off as a one dimensional moustache Twirler. For this episode to be compelling you need to be able to sympathise with the villain in some way.

It really just feels like this world is unrealistic and the episode didn't do a great job of explaining the logic of the world.

Consider what you consent

[Kareemmh89 · 9/10 · 28 June 2019]

This episode actually makes you consider what you consent in technology and applications. Also, how brainwashed can we get for the sake of imaginary benefits. So mature!

Coulda been better!

[AhmedSpielberg99 · 7/10 · 27 April 2020]

In the grand scheme, it's very generic, to say the least. But some revalations at the last act proved it has some nuances that are enough to make it mildly refreshing, and kinda smart, at its core. It was all about the execution itself that saved the best, the meat of the story, for the last, and utilized it as a plot-twist rather than building upon it.

(7/10)

The weakest episode so far

[dierregi · 2/10 · 12 February 2018]

I am following the series in chronological order and so far, I found something interesting in each episode. Unfortunately, this story is just a banal politically correct statement.

It is based on the unrealistic premises that human beings are too sympathetic a species to inflict pain willingly. However, history constantly proves that men are quite eager to hurt others.

Being it fuelled by ideological or tribal reasons, or just pure sadism, there is no shortage of violence in our past (and present). You just need to check the torture instruments invented throughout the centuries (and still used nowadays), to understand that no brainwashing is required to convince somebody to hurt someone else.

Perhaps it does take some natural inclination, but not much convincing.. and if during WWII only 20% of soldiers actually aimed at the enemy, how come 70 million people died? Did they purposely stumble on bullets?

Anyway, the plot is about a marine brainwashed by a cybernetic device called MASS into killing people with defective DNA - though it is not clear why somebody against violence would join the marines to start with....

PS and if the authors wanted to make a powerful statement, maybe they should have considered religious brainwashing instead of the military - which has been done way too many times before. But I guess that would have been way too controversial and Black Mirror stops short of controversy.