Rex is a German Shepherd with soulful eyes, and everyone thinks he’s a bad dog—but he’s not a bad dog! He just needs the right handler, and wouldn’t you know it: He gets her! Rex’s best friend is (surprise!) Megan Leavey, an alternately bratty and highly competent Marine Corporal based on a real person and played by Kate Mara. Together they’re the best IED-defusing team in Iraq. In the hands of a lesser director, Megan Leavey, set during the Iraq War and not exactly critical of the military-industrial complex, could easily devolve into jingoistic claptrap, but with Blackfish’s Gabriela Cowperthwaite at the helm, it’s a leaner, more interesting movie that hints at what it’s actually like to be a woman in the military. My only complaint is that they couldn’t get the real Chuck Schumer for a key moment in Rex’s self-actualization. If they had, Megan Leavey would be perfect. by Megan Burbank