Boots (Netflix) Stream It or Skip It – true bravery and brilliance come from being yourself rather than hiding in fear

Boots, now streaming on Netflix, proudly states that true bravery and brilliance come from being yourself rather than hiding in fear.

In September 2025, following Trump’s rebrand of the Department of Defence as the Department of War (strange unless you are planning a war!), his new Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, held a large meeting with military personnel. At this rant, Hegseth told officers and leaders, “For too long, we’ve promoted too many uniformed leaders for the wrong reasons, based on their race, based on gender quotas, based on historic so-called firsts. We’ve pretended that combat arms and non-combat arms are the same thing. We’ve weeded out so-called toxic leaders under the guise of double blind psychology assessments, promoting risk-averse go-along-to-get-along conformists instead.”

In this speech, Hegseth declared war on diversity. He went on to talk about the outlawing of beards, the cancelling of “identity months”, and the crushing of enemies through violence, precision and ferocity. But who are the enemies Hegseth really has in his sights? Could it be that in Trump’s McCarthyism 2.0, Hegseth’s enemies are within? Women, Black and Latino people, gay people and anyone who dares to challenge the idea that heterosexual white, Christian American men are the “best of the best.”

Therefore, Netflix and Sony’s adaptation of Greg Cope White’s 2015 memoir ‘The Pink Marine‘, now titled ‘Boots‘, premieres at a fascinating time in American politics. It is also interesting that Netflix showed little interest in promoting Boots before the quiet launch, and press screenings were nearly nonexistent (possibly yet another sign of media company nerves in Trump’s new Russia — sorry, America!).

It’s 1990, and homosexuality in the US military is outlawed. In four years, the ridiculous “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy will become the official position, but for now, it’s ‘gay… then stay away’ as we meet eighteen-year-old Cameron Cope, played by the fabulous Miles Heizer. Cameron is gay, and he is out to his best friend Ray (Liam Oh) but firmly in the closet with everyone else, including his rather selfish and cold mother (Vera Farmiga). Cameron is at a turning point; school is over, as he hopes are his years of homophobic abuse at the hands of fellow pupils, yet college is a distant dream. He needs something new; he needs to escape and find himself, yet there appear to be few avenues open to him, until Ray suggests they join the Marines!

I know what you’re thinking. What would possess a closeted gay kid to consider joining the Marines? Well, the need for escape can be powerful. As Cameron signs on the dotted line, he is about to discover that many young men like him flee to the Marines as an escape, whether from their family, their past, a hidden trauma, or a world that has written them off.

In Full Metal Jacket (1987), a film referenced several times in Boots, Stanley Kubrick took a razor-sharp scalpel to the testosterone-fuelled world of military training, and the unblinking hell of military service built on division, secrets and suppressed emotions. Boots is no Full Metal Jacket, but like Kubrick’s masterpiece, it dissects the relationship between toxic masculine behaviour, repressed and suppressed feelings and a need to split oneself in two to survive military training. Yet, unlike Kubrick, the resulting drama attempts to maintain a lighter tone, which, while engaging, can occasionally come across as confused, given the powerful themes at play.

Boots is split into three parallel stories: the first is a standard coming-of-age story, the second a fascinating exploration of the mental toll military life took on many of the gay people who hid themselves in the shadows, and the third is a story about how those who hide in fear often target others within the same community in their behaviours and actions.

It is in the latter two stories that Boots finds its voice as we follow Drill Sergeant Sullivan, played by the excellent Max Parker. Sullivan appears to be the perfect Marine, but he, too, is running. It’s a story that beautifully and powerfully explores the personal costs of suppression, while Sullivan’s behaviour towards Cope is a commanding exploration of horizontal hostility. However, by trying to weave multiple stories into one, Boots occasionally trips up as some character backstories and themes feel underdeveloped due to time constraints. For example, while threaded through the narrative, the militaristic behaviour of many dads in America and the lasting effects of this toxic and emotionally distant behaviour on boys feel underbaked.

Despite these flaws, Boots’ discussions of the importance of diversity in building strength and the toxicity of silence, bravado, and control at both the individual and institutional levels make this an assured, if at times slightly confused, drama. Boots is a rallying cry to celebrate difference, diversity, openness, and honesty in the armed forces. Hegseth’s speech undermined and dismissed this as ‘quotas, based on historic so-called firsts’. Boots is an emotionally charged, powerful rebuttal of Hegseth’s wish to erase brilliant and brave people with words like ‘quota’. Here, Boots proudly states that true bravery and brilliance come from being yourself rather than hiding in fear.