‘Men of War’ Review: When a Botched Coup Feels Like a Coen Brothers Comedy

In the wake of the recent kidnapping and extradition of Nicolás Maduro, a film like Men of War feels, on one hand, oddly dated—yet at the same time it throws into sharp relief just how chaotic Venezuela’s political landscape was during his presidency. In truth, the documentary isn’t really about Maduro himself, but about a group of rather peculiar figures involved in a failed operation—code-named Operation Gideon—that aimed to remove him from power and install Juan Guaidó in his place.

The film is told in a propulsive, high-energy style, borrowing the pacing—and the somewhat questionable aesthetic logic—of a cable TV special. It’s 2019, and Jordan Goudreau, a former Green Beret who had served in multiple conflict zones, returns to the United States and struggles to find his footing. Leaning on his military expertise and experience in combat operations, this young, highly trained, deeply militarized man—also in need of money—embarks on a bizarre venture that was almost destined to fail from the outset: under the cover of a private security company he ran, he sets out to invade Venezuela and capture Maduro.

He does so with a ragtag group of associates, fueled by vague promises and wishful thinking—a motley crew of recruits he himself trained—along with highly conditional and ambiguous support from figures tied, in various ways, to the first Trump administration. The film introduces Venezuelan operatives living in Miami, a former Maduro insider turned opposition figure, and a contingent of soldiers waiting for a coastal landing and a swift regime change—something that, at least at the time, the government seemed more than capable of withstanding. As history would show, the operation collapsed almost immediately, leaving deaths, arrests, and international fallout in its wake.

Largely narrated by Goudreau himself—a figure who will likely provoke mixed reactions—Men of War becomes, at one level, the portrait of a man who believes war can bring peace, yet gradually realizes that the politicians operating behind the scenes are rarely willing to take real risks when it matters. But there’s more going on here. This is also the story of a bargain-bin military adventure in which everything that could go wrong did go wrong—endangering lives and exposing the naivety and incompetence of nearly everyone involved. Put differently: it could easily have been an absurdist war comedy directed by the Coen brothers.

The filmmakers largely let Goudreau speak and reconstruct his version of events, and over time it becomes clear that—despite what may have been good intentions—he is strikingly limited when it comes to navigating the complex worlds of politics, military hierarchy, intelligence agencies, and power structures. Even accounting for the obstacles placed in his path, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that this could have been handled far more competently. That’s true regardless of where one stands on the not-so-minor issue of the illegality of invading a sovereign nation and abducting its president.

Nearly six years after these events, in a very different geopolitical context—and with Trump back in power—the same objective was ultimately achieved through far more effective means. Still, this remains the more cinematic version of the story: one that might actually work even better as a fiction film, played as a dark comedy, with Channing Tatum in the lead.