Another intense film from Alex Garland and another great season of “The Last of Us” arrive this week, and we weigh in on both.

“Warfare” >> Alex Garland’s built a career out of blowing audiences’ minds while making them squirm in their seats. His previous hot potato, “Civil Wars,” sent chills throughout this fractious, broken nation since its thesis seems horribly plausible, maybe even inevitable.

“Warfare” is a different beast, even though it, too, cattle-prods you out of your comfort zone and jackhammers every raw nerve in your body. It’s also lean (just over 90 minutes), efficient, focused and is an outright technical masterpiece, from the sound effects to the incredible editing to the arid, surreal cinematography that makes you want to choke at times. Garland teams up with first-time director Ray Mendoza to adapt a story drawn from Mendoza’s own harrowing tour-of-duty in the Iraq War as part of the Navy’s SEAL Team 5. Specifically, “Warfare” is inspired by Mendoza’s mission in 2006 Ramadi, Iraq. And after seeing what he encountered it’s a wonder that Mendoza and many in his troop escaped with their lives. Not all did.

“Warfare” gains cred and authenticity from Mendoza sharing directorial and writerly duties, and his influence better informs the film. It results in one of the most visceral takes on what it’s like to come under unrelenting enemy fire than many combat films, except “Saving Private Ryan.” Whereas that Steven Spielberg war piece did permit you to come up for air occasionally, “Warfare” does not. It’s a singular, focused experience about an American troop setting up a surveillance operation in a family’s apartment where what begins as a monotonous and mundane operation turns into bloody chaos as these young men (all played well) come under heavy gunfire and attack.

“Warfare” does wring you out, but what’s ingenious about it is that it is not a mindless rah-rah, gung-ho war movie, but a sobering look at what truly happens in battle, and the valor and courage of those in uniform as well as the loss of limbs and life incurred.

The cast is huge and while it’s hard to single anyone out, the actors that sear into your subconscious are D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai as the wide-eyed but reasoned Mendoza, Cosmo Jarvis as lead sniper Elliot Miller (his is a grueling physical performance) and Will Poulter as the rattled, shell-shocked lead officer Erik. Kit Connor, Joseph Quinn and Charles Melton lend strong support. But the real stars here remain on the technical side, in particular those sound effects geniuses who pierce your ears as if you were in battle.

Even the opening scene is inspired and unexpected, almost making you feel like you wandered into the wrong theater. It’s also one bit of rowdy, testosterone levity, a bonding moment that comes before the storm arrives to spin you around and spit you out.

Details >> 3½ stars out of 4; in theaters Friday.

“The Last of Us Season 2” >> Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann concocted a magical formula for turning a massively popular, intricately plotted video game like Naughty Dog’s “The Last of Us” into a massively popular, intricately plotted series.

The trick was both simple and yet nearly impossible to pull off since the creators needed to win over both fans of the video game as well as those who had never played it. How did they do this? They created compelling, distinctive characters and found the right actors to portray them (starting with Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey).

Then they thrust these characters into dire, dystopian situations full of moving, intimate and ethically challenging dilemmas that arose in a pandemic caused by a massive fungal infection and populated by zombies clamoring for flesh and bone.

Somehow, they’ve done it again with this seven-episode follow-up Season 2 (after a long two-year wait) by replicating the magic of Season 1, even pulling off a real tearjerker — the 6th episode — that echoes the emotional heft of Season 1’s “Bill and Frank” segment. The Season 1 finale left us speculating if the feisty, Infected-immune Ellie (Ramsey) bought her surrogate dad Joel’s (Pascal) big lie. That remains one of the big question marks dominating this season, which takes place five years after the first season.

The story moves to Seattle but spends its first episodes around the Old West-like Wisconsin settlement where Joel, Ellie, Joel’s brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) and Tommy’s wife Maria (“True Blood’s” Rutina Wesley) live with others. The Infected are nearby, of course, and might not be all that stupid anymore.

The season also expands on just how chilly the relationship’s gotten between Ellie and Joel and it’s heartbreaking at times. It also introduces us to new characters, including the smart, direct and flirtatious Dina (Isabela Merced, a welcome addition to the cast), who thoroughly captivates Ellie; hard-drinking psychologist Gail (Catherine O’Hara, also most welcome); a vengeance-seeking Abby (“Apple Cider Vinegar’s” Kaitlyn Dever, who’s knocking one performance out of the park after another these days); and do-gooder Jesse (Young Mazino of “Beef,” upping the hunk factor here).

There are others, including Jeffrey Wright’s intense turn as Isaac — a pivotal role he voiced in the game as well. How do the newbies figure in? Can’t tell you that, particularly if you’ve never played the game.

Rest assured, your expectations will get met in Season 2. So just let it unfold naturally and savor how it stands out from the pack of dystopian fiction by so depicting how actions have moral consequences and have the power to change us forever. This season offers even a bigger cliffhanger than the last.

Details >> 3½ stars; first episode drops Sunday, with one episode dropping every week afterward.