There is a certain something about War Dogs that is familiar as a cozy blanket. It could be the use of a musical soundtrack featuring songs that have been over used in movies before. It could be the narration of it that leaves it with a feeling of Goodfellas. There are many different attributes of this Todd Phillips film that are recognizable, but that doesn't mean that it is a hack of a movie.
The story is one that is based on a news article, much like Pain and Gain was. The difference here, is that War Dogs understands how humour is supposed to be integrated into a movie. That is key. We follow David Packouz (Miles Teller) as he has dreams of becoming more than a certified massage therapist. His life is changed when he runs into his best friend from tenth grade, Efraim Diveroli (Jonah Hill). David is a door mat with a solid heart, while Efraim is not one to take shit from people, and looks after himself. These are qualities that David admires, as he doubts his dreams and ambitions in life.
David finds out that Efraim makes a living bidding on the crumb sized military contracts of the mid 2000s was in Iraq and Afghanistan. Emboldened by being in the company of his old friend, David leaves his humble dreams and teams up with Efraim to make insane amounts of money making deals that are on the shady side of legal.
Ultimately, it is a movie where the main character must look at who he truly is and decide if the life that he is living is one that he can sleep with at the end of the day. As mentioned in the opening paragraph, nothing new here. But that is alright.
What Todd Phillips is able to do with this story, is direct it into something with bits of memories of past film, but without directly stealing anything. He is able to keep a good pace throughout the movie, something that he is known for. There are down times, and those down times mean something. They aren't just for trying to pad the run time of the movie.
Miles Teller is as good as he always is, but, to me at least, the main acting story coming out of War Dogs is the performance of Jonah Hill. Known primarily as a comedian (while we already know just how talented Teller is), Hill elevates himself to become a chameleon who is able to be something to everyone. In his one role, he plays a master manipulator who changes shapes and attitudes, and it is believable the entire time. There are great things ahead for this actor, that is for sure.
Probably the biggest draw back of the film is that we don't get enough of the down to earth moments of Teller's character. With the movie about his choices of what to do, as well as battling the morality of what he is doing, there needed to be a very solid foundation of personality that we are to build off of. A lot of it comes from the narration, rather than actually seeing the moments that are to make him a three dimensional character.
Phillips, who directed the Hangover trilogy, shows that he is willing to take his understanding of comedic timing and gags and transport them to a more serious film. It is still not the most serious film in the world, but it is compared to Phillips past filmography. The movie offers some good, solid laughs, as well as some dramatic moments, to make it effective summer fare.
Rating - 3 out of 4 stars
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