Megan Leavey

Megan Leavey is a drama based on the true story of a young woman who joins the U.S. Marines and is assigned to handle an aggressive German shepherd trained to detect explosives. The dog, Rex, has already gone through other handlers, and the two are initially at odds. After she earns the qualification to work with him, they are deployed to Iraq, where they search for bombs and mines over a series of missions. An explosion during their service injures both of them, and the film follows what happens afterward, when Megan fights to bring Rex home rather than see him returned to military service.

Gabriela Cowperthwaite directed the film, which followed her 2013 documentary Blackfish and preceded Our Friend, I.S.S. and The Grab in her filmography. Kate Mara plays Megan Leavey, with Ramón Rodríguez, Tom Felton, Bradley Whitford, Will Patton and Sam Keeley in supporting roles. The screenplay was written by Pamela Gray, Annie Mumolo and Tim Lovestedt.

Released in 2017, the film runs 116 minutes and was produced by LD Entertainment and Calle Cruzada, with a worldwide box office of about 15 million dollars. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.1 from roughly 30,000 votes, and on TMDB a rating of 7.3 from around 870 votes. A critics' rating of 6.8 from 104 reviews places it close to the audience scores, indicating a broadly similar reception across both groups.