Generation Kill (Season 1)

Generation Kill (2008) — watch online on iFILM the HBO miniseries written by David Simon and Ed Burns, based on Evan Wright's Rolling Stone dispatches from inside the 2003 Iraq invasion. Alexander Skarsgård stars as Sergeant Brad Colbert.

Seven episodes, seven weeks. The First Reconnaissance Battalion pushes north through Iraq with no reliable maps, contradictory orders and a journalist riding in the back of the Humvee. Colbert — nicknamed Ice Man — is a cold technician who finds his convoy mates' machismo more nerve-wracking than enemy fire. James Ransone, Lee Tergesen and Stark Sands round out the core cast.

The creators of The Wire brought the same ground-level discipline here: no heroes, no speeches, just the boredom, black humour and sudden violence of a war improvised in real time. Stream Generation Kill online on iFILM.