'The Mosquito Bowl' Review Setup: Peter Berg's Netflix World War II Drama Follows Four Football Stars Into the Marines

Four football stars, one war

The leads of Peter Berg's new World War II drama for Netflix are four elite college football players who joined the Marines after the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor. ^[1] If you plan to watch The Mosquito Bowl, that is the premise. ^[1]

The film's synopsis says the four players enlist after Pearl Harbor and are pulled out of their idealistic youth into the violence of World War II. ^[2] The film's opening epigraph is a famous Herbert Hoover quote. ^[1]

The cast and their characters

Nicholas Galitzine plays John McLaughry, a thoughtful Brown alum. ^[1] Ray Nicholson plays Tony Butkovich, a Purdue alum who becomes a promising NFL draftee. ^[1]

Tom Francis plays David Schreiner, an anxious University of Wisconsin graduate, and Bill Skarsgard plays Bob Bauman, a wild University of Wisconsin graduate. ^[1] David maintains a grudge against Tony for beating Wisconsin in a game. ^[1]

In boot camp, Bob announces that the recruit is there to learn how to kill Japanese people. ^[1] The main characters hoped to be home for the Fourth of July of 1942, but learn that fighting rarely goes quickly or easily. ^[1]

Source material and filmmakers

The film is adapted from the book of the same title by Buzz Bissinger. ^[1] That book is Bissinger's 2022 work The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in World War II. ^[3]

Berg and Mark L. Smith wrote the screenplay. ^[1] Berg worked with director of photography Jacques Jouffret, and the music is by Explosions in the Sky. ^[1]

The combat sequences are set in the Pacific theater and were filmed in Australia. ^[1] Netflix is the distributor, and the production companies are Imagine Entertainment and Film 44. ^[1]

Premiere and military visits

The world premiere was held during AFI Fest at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on October 22, 2026. ^[3] Billy Zane, Thora Birch and Tim Matheson attended the Thursday premiere. ^[3]

Before that, the cast and filmmakers visited Marine Corps Camp Pendleton on October 20. ^[2] The visit included a meet-and-greet with Marines, a screening of the film, and an up-close look at training with Assault Amphibious Vehicles. ^[2]

The week before Camp Pendleton, they also visited the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Washington, D.C. and the National WWII Museum in New Orleans. ^[2]

Berg said the film was made about, and for, the military culture so that a large audience could understand the sacrifices asked of service members. ^[2]