- A family man begins to question the ethics of his job as a drone pilot.
- A Las Vegas-based fighter pilot turned drone pilot fights the Taliban by remote control for 12 hours a day, then goes home to the suburbs and feuds with his wife and kids for the other 12. But the pilot is starting to question the mission. Is he creating more terrorists than he's killing? Is he fighting a war without end.—Toronto International Film Festival
- US armed forces start using weapons armed UAVs after Sep 11, 2001. in 2010, the targeted killings reach a new high.
Major Thomas Egan (Ethan Hawke) is a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot who transitions to UCAV duty when demand drops for manned aircraft. As a drone pilot, with a limited ability to control collateral damage during airstrikes, Egan becomes disillusioned. He begins to more deeply question the morality of his job after his unit begins running missions for the CIA.
Thomas's wife is Molly Egan (January Jones) and supports him completely in his military career. Lieutenant Colonel Jack Johns (Bruce Greenwood) is the commanding officer of the UCAV division & is also overseeing the training of new recruits. He is angry that nerdy kids are being given just 40 hours of training on simulator before being thrust into the theatre of war.
Thomas & Molly barely talk anymore let alone have sex. Molly finds a letter written by Thomas requesting a transfer to an active, on-site division. Molly confronts Thomas and asks whether things are that bad at home that Thomas can't stand it.
At work, Thomas is assigned a co-pilot A1C Vera Suarez (Zoe Kravitz). Together Thomas & Vera see the daily travesties of war. They watch helplessly as a Taliban sexually assaults a woman, yet they are not allowed to intervene. Another day, they fire at an IED factory and are not allowed to abort when kids come in the kill zone and are not allowed to abort.
Then Jack Johns tells the squad that now their unit has to take orders from the CIA, who operate under a different RoA (Rules of Action). While the military acts on a personality strike (where an individual has been established as a bad guy), CIA operates on "Signature Strikes", where CIA orders strike on the basis of a pattern of Behavior that creates a probability of that person being a bad guy.
In their first mission together CIA orders Jack to strike a residential compound, with civilians, to kill a suspected bomb maker. Then they ask Jack to do a double tab, to kill all Taliban rescuers who gathered to help after the first strike. In another mission they are ordered to bomb a crowd in Yemen market, as it is more "efficient".
Thomas starts suspecting Molly of having an affair. He then finally opens up to her, how he first bombed a family to get a terrorist & then bombed an entire funeral party to bomb a few more. On a particularly bad day, Thomas deliberately sabotages a direct order and misses a target, as there was too much collateral damage involved. Jack realizes what Thomas has done, & to escape punishment from CIA, demotes Thomas. The same day Molly leaves Thomas. Vera resigns in protest of Thomas's demotion & gives a clear offer to Thomas to hook up.
As a surveillance pilot, Thomas uses an opportunity to clear out his team from the office & carry out an unauthorized strike against a sexual predator Taliban commander whom Vera & Thomas had seen numerous times before. For his latest insubordination Jack Johns initiates court martial proceedings against Thomas. But Thomas is finally happy, having served one act of justice in his eyes.
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