War Machine trailer: First look at Brad Pitt and Tilda Swinton Netflix comedy

Pitt plays a four-star general who was taken down by a newspaper exposé

A-listers in Netflix films is now pretty commonplace, but it came as quite a surprise in 2015 when Brad Pitt inked a deal with the streaming service.

The movie in question was War Machine, an absurdist, satirical comedy about the Afghanistan war and in particular a bungling general, based on real-life General Stanley McChrystal and played by Pitt.

Today, Netflix unveiled the first trailer for it at its ‘See What’s Next’ event in Berlin, a short teaser that also offers glimpses of Tilda Swinton, Will Poulter and Lakeith Stanfield (who you may know from Atlanta).

Ben Kingsley also features in the Pitt-produced and David Michôd directed film, which is set for a 26 May release.

Here’s the full synopsis from Netflix:

"A pitch-black war story for our times, writer-director David Michôd (Animal Kingdom) recreates a U.S. General’s roller-coaster rise and fall as part reality, part savage parody – raising the specter of just where the line between them lies today. His is an absurdist look at a born leader’s ultra-confident march right into the dark heart of folly. At the story’s core is Brad Pitt’s sly take on one of the most polarizing war figures of a generation: successful, charismatic four-star General Stanley McChrystal, who leapt in like a rock star to command NATO forces in Afghanistan, only to be taken down by a journalist’s no-holds-barred exposé."

The Netflix original film is based on the book The Operators: The Wild & Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan by the late journalist Michael Hastings."