REVIEW: War Dogs

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

The Spectacular Now

I could not tell you why, but lately it has been very hard to sit in front of the keyboard and work on reviews.  This does not mean I have not been watching good movies (or bad ones as well), but more so because of the mental game of writing.  I could not say that it is 'writer's block' as it more seems to come down to confidence and fears.  Awful things, those are.  

One of the great coming of age movies from 2013 turned out to be the little known film The Spectacular Now, a movie which looks at the very adult issues that teenagers face while wrapping it in a teen romance theme.  In this movie, there is sort of a typical theme of the popular person developing a relationship with the academic person who is much lower down on the adolescent social ladder.  However, it does not approach it from the normal means of a quest or a dare set upon the ‘cool kid,’ but more from a common understanding that their lives are not in the order that they would like them to be in.

The movie has Sutter (Miles Teller), who is the life of the party and refuses to ever let the party die by constantly infusing his body with alcohol.  After a night of hitting the bottle, he ends up on the lawn of Aimee (Shailene Woodley) who is heading out to do her newspaper route to support her family.  The movie, caught in a scenario that is usually bound into clichés, uses this as a jumping point for the story of the two, who slowly start to develop a relationship, although it is not the best one at times, and grow to be good friends who push and support each other in taking control of their lives.

The pairing of these two actors is an example of terrific casting, as they both play their parts to the point of making the viewer remember back to high school (assuming that the viewer, such as myself, already has high school behind them) and remembering people who were exactly like that.  It is easy to not care much for Sutter, as he does not seem to care about anything and is quick to make a joke.  Life, for him, has a lack of seriousness about it, and there is no forethought to the consequences of any of his actions.  While this struck a chord with me, reminding me of those types from my past and stirring up some good ole angst towards him, it was incredible to witness just how effective director James Ponsoldt and Teller were at bringing in moments where I felt sympathy for Sutter.  While he is easy to judge right away as a useless kid who will never amount to anything, we are able to see the reality of what lies behind the curtain for him (and perhaps others like him) that makes him that way.

Shailene Woodley shows her acting chops in this film, perhaps giving us an idea of just how far her career can go.  She is about to be put on the main stage as the lead in the upcoming Divergent movie, but it is in this film where we can see a multitude of layers that she is able to incorporate into a character.  She plays the shy girl well, but behind what may be a lack of social confidence we see glimpses of a very strong young woman who has not yet come out.  Hindered by her home situation, much like Teller, she needs a push to discover the amazing individual she truly is.  Her performance is without flaw, and without such delivery, a lot of the story and emotional impact of the film would never be able to come to the surface.

Also in this film is Brie Larson, and if you have read some of my other writings or listened to The Breakdown podcast you may have figured out that I am quite a fan of this talented young actress.  She plays a supporting role as Sutter’s ex-girlfriend, and serves as a symbol of how his dysfunctional life can pull someone down with him.  While he is stuck in his own life, not moving forward, we see that once she is clear of his influence she seems able to assert herself into her life with confidence.  It is a bold warning for Aimee that a similar fate could be around the corner.

Such cycles are part of this movie’s makeup.  When you are a teenager, unsure of who you are and how your circumstances have molded you, circling around familiar ground is a perfect way to deceive ourselves that all is safe and familiar.  Sutter’s behaviours of self-sabotage and destruction were powerfully crafted, a self-propelled cycle that showed off the complexities of human struggles.  While it may sound a bit doom and gloom, this is a coming of age story.  It is one about teens turning into adults, hitting moments of recognition, and being faced with choices of what path they want their lives to take, and The Spectacular Now does this all spectacularly.

Rating – 3.5 out of 4 stars