GOOD KILL

GOOD KILL (vt. MÁXIMA PRECISIÓN, DRONES, and others). Andrew Niccol, dir. script. USA: Voltage Pictures et al. (production) / IFC Films (US theatrical distribution), 2014.

Not SF (unfortunately), but a military action plus family drama set in the Las Vegas, Nevada, area and indirectly zones of conflict in Afghanistan, Yemen, and elsewhere in "the Sandbox" in 2010, a year of intense US drone attacks. Relevant here for real-world "air-conditioned cubicle" work environments of US Air Force personnel that are trailers in the Nevada desert, where small groups of fighters in the War on Terror sit in comfortable chairs with video screens and other electronic equipment while working the aviation controls — and fire controls — of drones. These environments contrast with the surreality of Las Vegas and in senses that include the ethical compare and contrast with the hyperreality of the hot and dry spaces of sudden death that are the actual war zones. This is an important film, examining the implications of first-person-shooter games with actual drones and Hellfire missiles.

RDE, initial compiler, 24May17