War Inc. (DVD)

In the war torn country of Turaqistan the end of war is met with a US branding exercise by conglomerate Tamerlane. Sent into organise the branding of a country is Brand Hauser (John Cusack). Helped by his aid Marsha Dillon (Joan Cusack) the two try to sell the country, its people, and its inventions to the world. Natalie Hegalhuzan (Marisa Tomei) is a journalist suspicious of the whole branding exercise, and clearly sees through Hauser's message, ...
...and Ben Cross in toe War Inc. Is the funniest Cusack movie since Grosse Point Blank.

I was lured into War Inc. by its cast, I never for one moment expected this movie to be any good; I never knew why I suspected it to be so poor but I was pleasantly surprised. I guess the magic is in the writing, and the chief writer of the movie is John Cusack himself, maybe why not only did I find it as good as Grosse Point Blank, it was also the ... more

In the war torn country of Turaqistan the end of war is met with a US branding exercise by conglomerate Tamerlane. Sent into organise the branding of a country is Brand Hauser (John Cusack). Helped by his aid Marsha Dillon (Joan Cusack) the two try to sell the country, its people, and its inventions to the world. Natalie Hegalhuzan (Marisa Tomei) is a journalist suspicious of the whole branding exercise, and clearly sees through Hauser's message, while he tries to win her heart as well as her trust. But things take an unexpected new twist when Yonica Babyyeah (Hilary Duff) arrives in town (the Turaqistan version of Britney Spears when she was popular for the right reasons), while trying to woo the singer something about her makes Hauser violently ill, often vomiting at thesound of her music. But all this is just a cover Hauser is in fact America's most dangerous hit man and he is in town to assassinate Omar Shariff. With Ben Kingsley, Dan Ackroyd, and Ben Cross in toe War Inc. Is the funniest Cusack movie since Grosse Point Blank.

I was lured into War Inc. by its cast, I never for one moment expected this movie to be any good; I never knew why I suspected it to be so poor but I was pleasantly surprised. I guess the magic is in the writing, and the chief writer of the movie is John Cusack himself, maybe why not only did I find it as good as Grosse Point Blank, it was also the last movie he co-wrote. For those of you older viewers, Cusack himself is very similar in his subtle sarcasm to the character he played in mid 80's movie Better Off Dead.

War Inc. is very funny, granted it's also very silly, but it's one of the very few movies I have seen lately that not only made me laugh out loud, but a vast number of times. America has not really sat back and laughed at itself since before 9/11 and here it's an example of how America see's itself now. While you should not laugh at the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan War Inc. Looks at these events and shows them in assort of pathetic light that really most people do but don't dare to say in an open forum.

Forgetting the political agenda, and ignoring Cusack, both of them. The real star of the movie in my eyes is Hilary Duff an actress whom I have avoided like the plague since her rise to fame, a sure sign that Duff is now an adult she shakes off her girly image and adopts a new adult one. Singing badly is not something that comes naturally to Duff and you can see that she has a lot of fun with the concept here. With songs like "I want to BLOW YOU...............UP!" and "Bang, bang there is war in my heart" the actress seems to embrace being a little bit naughty. When not trying to seduce Cusack's character she is forcing scorpions down her underwear, and watching on calmly as her fans are beaten to death for asking for an autograph.

War Inc. works by mixing its storyline up well, in between all the laughs there is a lot of action, and enough involved storyline to keep you fixated to the screen. From stupid fights in which Cusack and Kingsley fight in the back of a rubbish dumpster over a kiss, old dolls and plastic chains as their weapons; to a great all action scene in which Cusack goes all Jet Li and ends by macing someone's eyes out. The next minute the story hauntingly flashbacks to the murder of Hausers wife 18 years prior, slowly drip fed into the movie like a scene from David Finchers Se7en.

Of the movies cast John Cusack is hysterical (like he has not been since the 80's), Joan Cusack is adorable as the bitter, twisted, and foul mouthed assistant, Hilary Duff ticks all the right boxes, Tomei looks stunning and adds the most subtle humour. Kingsley is unquestionably camp, in a rather unusual role in a vein straight out of HBO's hit show Curb Your Enthusiasm, each time he appeared on screen I had to do a double take, I have never seen such a usually serious actor play stupidly silly so well, rather like Duff its evident that this is the sort of role he has been longing for. And how can I miss out Aykroyd as America's Vice President with a faecal impactation so severe you really don't want to go there, while I'm on the subject of Aykroyd its strange to see how an actor ages when they are not in the limelight as much as they used to be.

In the genre of comedy movies War Inc. is by far the best movie I have seen so far in 2008, it's not perfect but it does deliver an awful lot of laughs, gives enough story to keep you mentally entertained, as well as the opportunity to see some big stars be just plain stupid for the hell of it.

Doctor Who fans, if you heard and perhaps believed the rumours that Sir Ben Kingsley was to play the character Davros in the series 4 finale, it's clear from watching War Inc. where the rumour came from, and why it clearly won't be happening.

War Inc. is due in the UK in the third quarter of 2008, exact date still to be confirmed.

Spencer Hawken 05/08 

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