War, Inc. Review
Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 05.24.2008
The business of war, as told by John Cusack. How can they go wrong?
Directed By: Joshua Seftel Written By: John Cusack, Mark Leyner and Jeremy Pikser
Starring: John Cusack - Brand Hauser Hilary Duff - Yonica Babyyeah Marisa Tomei - Natalie Hegalhuzen Joan Cusack - Marsha Ben Kingsley - Walken Ben Cross - Medusa Hair Dan Aykroyd - The Vice President Shirly Brener - Hauser's Wife Montel Williams - GuideStar Ned Bellamy - Zubleh / Ooq-Yu-Fay Taqnufmini Sergej Trifunović - Ooq-Mi-Fay Taqnufmini Doug Dearth - Geoff Lyubomir Neikov - Omar
Running Time: 107 Minutes
Rated R for violence, language and brief sexual material
The political film is one of the most divisive genres in American cinema today. It’s no exaggeration to say that we live in a hotly politicized era, largely due to the aftermath of 9/11 and the strong public opinion regarding the War in Iraq, the War on Terrorism, the opposition to or support of the current presidential administration’s national and international policies, and of course the presidential election this year. That being the case, it’s no surprise that Hollywood and independent cinema have decided to speak their minds with film after film, particularly following the incredible success of Michael Moore’s documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 in 2004. Such films as All The King’s Men, Home of the Brave, In The Valley of Elah, Lions for Lambs, Redacted, Rendition and April’s Stop-Loss have all made their statements and tried to draw in movie-goers, with varied but often limited success. The latest film in that entry, John Cusack’s War, Inc., takes a different tone form the more serious films above, going for a darkly comedic look at the current geopolitical climate, with equally varied success.
The film is set some time in the future where, according to the opening text scroll, corporations have replaced nations as the “true creators of history” and the military powers of the world. A company known as Tamerlane, owned by the unnamed former Vice President of the United States (Aykroyd), is one of those corporations. Tamerlane has completely taken over the newly “liberated” country known as Turaqistan, in what the former VP calls “the first war ever to be 100% outsourced to private enterprise.” He hires hit man Brand Hauser (John Cusack) to assassinate a rival CEO who’s trying to build an oil pipeline through the country. Hauser just did some work for Tamerlane, having killed someone in the opening scene of the movie in a bar after downing shots of hot sauce as a way to suppress his emotions. Tamerlane lands in Turaqistan and is escorted through a brand-name laden “safe zone” called the Emerald City to meet with his contact, the peppy and high-strung Tamerlane Operative Marsha Dillon (Joan Cusack). The cover for them is a Tamerlane-sponsored trade show, bringing democracy and commercialism to the new country, topped off by the wedding of third-world pop star Yonica Babyyeah (Duff). Unfortunately for them, idealistic reporter Natalie Hegalhuzen (Tomei) is at the trade show. Natalie has written some scathing indictments about the occupation and corporate takeover of the country, and this, of course, does not make her popular with Tamerlane or Marsha. However, Hauser is immediately taken with her. Unfortunately, Yonica has similarly set her sights on him, despite her impending nuptials, and Hauser is left with trying to fend off the pop star while convincing the bristling Natalie to fall for him, all while needing to complete a mission he’s having increasing difficulty in reconciling with his beliefs. Hilarity abounds.
The world of War, Inc owes a spiritual debt to such political satire classics as Doctor Strangelove, and that film is certainly the kind of film this one tries to be. The same biting darkly humorous satire elements are present concerning the nature of war; where Strangelove points out the lunacy of the Cold War’s mutually assured destruction doctrine, War, Inc. takes unbridled shots at the outsourcing of war and the spin doctoring that goes into it. Journalists are implanted with chips that give them the “implanted journalistic experience” before engaging in an experience that is little more then a virtual reality theme park ride. Everything is sponsored and corporatized; even tanks have brand names along the sides, and billboards promote Democracy Light cigarettes. The elusive viceroy of the country speaks through a voice-modulated closed-circuit screen that shows alternating images of pop culture icons and political figures. The movie holds nothing back and doesn’t try too hard at being subtle; like in Dr. Strangelove, subtle would be beside the point. In this, it succeeds, and on a brilliant level. Unfortunately, the political satire is accompanied by sophomoric jokes like the Vice President delivering Hauser’s mission while sitting on the toilet. The crude humor, which worked in other movies such as Idiocracy (another film that this one seems the spiritual descendant of), seems out of place and disjointed with the rest of the film and dampens the otherwise enjoyable experience.
The other film this shows a strong connection to is Gross Pointe Blank, Cusack’s 1997 dark comedy about an assassin who finds himself at odds with the morals of his profession. Joan Cusack has called War, Inc. the “unofficial sequel” to Blank in interviews, and the correlation can certainly be made, as Martin Blank and Brand Hauser are cut from the same mold. Cusack’s performance as Hauser is, as his performance as Blank was, hilarious, and grounded firmly in the Cusack mold of conflicted protagonists who need to make a change in their lives, and find the opportunity in love. Hauser is more world-weary already then Blank was at the beginnings of their respective films. He’s already jaded by the growing corruption in the business of war, but he’s willing to make money off of it nonetheless. When Natalie accuses him of despising her politics, he quips “How dare you say that? I have no politics” with the sort of casual nature that leads one to believe he’s buried his own beliefs years ago. And in fact, as flashbacks show, he has. This is the kind of role that Cusack excels in, both in writing and in acting, and he’s no less then amazing. His chemistry with Tomei as Natalie is a joy to watch, and unlike many romantic subplots in other films, it enhances the film and plot rather then detracting from it. For Tomei’s part, she’s proving in film after film that the career revival she’s been going through in the last decade is no fluke. Her Natalie is a firebrand, but not the sort of joyless reporter-on-a-mission types that the role often falls into. Tomei’s natural charm and wit come forth and make Natalie a sympathetic character to watch, even when she gets preachy. Joan Cusack is the comic delight of the film, and she has a lot of the straight-out funniest moments. One scene in the film, when Marsha freaks out to Hauser via camera phone, is absolutely inspired and nothing less then hilarious. Hillary Duff plays Yonica with appropriate amounts vamp, immaturity, and vulnerability, making her Central Asian, low-rent Britney Spears amusing to watch. The rest of the cast holds their ends up nicely and there are no real missteps here.
The production values of the film are perhaps one of the few complaints. Working with the very limited budget they had, first-time director Joshua Seftel does the absolute best that he can, much the way Mike Judge did with Idiocracy. Unfortunately, with the rest of the quality being relatively high and the name value of the actors, it ends up giving the film a “big budget, low-rent” feel that it doesn’t deserve. If not for the largely en-masse failure of political satire films in the last few years, this probably could have been avoided, but that is, at the end of the day, perhaps the biggest problem with War, Inc.; it suffers from the company it keeps.
The 411: John Cusack has been taking, over the last several years, a more active role in the production of his films, and whenever he does, the quality shows. War, Inc. is perhaps not one of his best efforts, but the films seeming derivation to the odd trio of Dr. Strangelove, Idiocracy, and Gross Point Blank makes for an entertaining, purposefully heavy-handed satire on the privatization of war. Great performances from the entire cast, particularly both Cusacks and Marisa Tomei, make the film a hell of a lot of fun. It's not perfect, but in terms of political films, it stands head and shoulders about recent efforts
