A punk-rock Strangelove riff on a mission very much unaccomplished.
War, Inc. (2008)
Runtime: 1 hr 47 mins
Genre: Comedies
Starring: John Cusack, Marisa Tomei, Hilary Duff, Joan Cusack, Ben Kingsley
Screenwriter: Mark Leyner, Jeremy Pikser, John Cusack
Producer: John Cusack, Grace Loh, Les Weldon, Danny Lerner
Composer: David Robbins
Reviews
Look at War, Inc as a back-flipping, over-the-top political farce, and the results are far more pleasurable. Consider the film an unofficial sequel to the 1997 classic Grosse Pointe Blank, and War, Inc. is absolutely wonderful.
The constant barrage of jokes, in-jokes, snide comments and bizarre plotlines becomes wearying after a while, and eventually the point of the whole enterprise is completely lost.
No matter how dark your sense of humor, the Bush Administration’s joke has become a harsh reality. There’s no spark of humor when you’re staring into an abyss.
The film clearly intends to skewer our country and its "corrupt", "foolhardy", "hypocritical", "self serving" policies in Iraq, and maybe many of the lacerations are well earned, but War, Inc. reeks of generic Hollywood liberal grandstanding.
The story fairly zings along in War, Inc. as Hauser struggles to complete the mission he does not believe in, woo the reporter who despises him, and watch over the vile teenage singer (Duff) he feels an unexplainable fondness for.
So lost within its own ideas of satire and its own ridiculous plot, War, Inc. never really figures out anything to say.
I love John Cusack, but I can't imagine what he was thinking as the star, producer and co-writer of the mind-boggling Iraq satire War, Inc.
The ongoing corporatization of war is definitely ripe for satire of Catch-22 calibre. One hopes others will rise to the bait and hit the target dead centre.
It all adds up to a fast pace, lots of shooting, and a movie that, in its heart, is as corrupt as the politics it attempts to satirize.
If Harold & Kumar feels deliberately dumbed down, War, Inc. tries too desperately to show off its intelligence.
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posted by Brian Linder April 28, 2008
It's getting buzz for its infamous Hilary Duff scorpion-pants scene, but there's a lot more to War, Inc. -- including...


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