War, Inc.

So I checked out the movie "War, Inc." because based on the preview it looked funny and interesting. Certain parts of it definitely had that going for it, but for the most part it just falls flat on its face.

Not the first movie to have the main character be a sensitive hitman who wants to get out of the business....strike one (since it wasn't done well) They try to make fun of the corporization of war in other countries where we as Americans simply do it to make money (might be true, might not be) but my problem isn't with that message, I'm fine with that message, my problem with that is that its done so clumsily its like if someone tried to fit an elephant into a smartcar....strike two. Strike three comes in the form of its lead, John Cusak, I don't believe for more than a second that he is a killer and can fight at all.

John Cusak holding a gun, have you ever heard of something so ridiculous. Now aside from that the cast is actually decent, none of them do very well with the under written and franky ridiculous characters they are given, but they couldn't do much with them anyway. I liked Hillary Duff as a bimbo pop star who is hiding the fact that shes a real person. Marrissa Tomei does a fair job as well. It just seemed to jump all around way to much, never focusing enough on his shadowed past, or the current situation, it was very under written and foggy. And as a satire it isn't funny enough. There were a few parts that made me laugh, and more than a chuckle, but it wasn't the satire. It was watching Ben Kingsley in a wheel chair trying to charge John Cusak who simply just steps out of the way. A physical gag, that's fine, but if that's the only part I'm laughing at, then someone dropped the ball somewhere.

Towards the end the story just gets to the point of utter absurdity, and still manages to give us a family safe happy ending, although the movie is not family safe...why end it like that? It was to predictable, to simple, the twists come right when you know they will and you know it all from the start anyway. I'm not sure why any of these people signed on to make it, I know Cusak helped write it, so there's one answer, but maybe he should just stick to his High Fidelity characters and shlubby charm and not branch to far from that. Overall it was a waste of time, but wasn't something I was angry I had watched, it just needed a lot of work. 4/10 stars. If someone has rented this and suggests you watch it just say no....like D.A.R.E.

Director: Joshua Seftel

Starring: John Cusak, Marissa Tomei, Hillary Duff, Ben Kingsley