War, Inc.

Director: Joshua Seftel
Actors: John Cusack, Hilary Duff, Marisa Tomei, Joan Cusack, Dan Aykroyd
Studio: Warner Bros.
Category: Movie

Buy New: $3.99

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Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars 3 reviews
Sales Rank: 54

Genre: Action
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: Video On Demand
Running Time: 107 Minutes

ASIN: B001L815IQ

Theatrical Release Date: January 1, 2008
Release Date: November 24, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
War, Inc.

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Synopsis

Recreating his role as a hitman, John Cusack gives a hilarious performance in "War, Inc.", a political satire set in Turaqistan, a country occupied by an American private corporation run by a former U.S. Vice President (Dan Aykroyd). In an effort to monopolize the opportunities the war-torn nation offers, the corporations CEO hirer hauser (Cusack) to kill a Middle Eastern oil minister. Now, struggling with his own growing demons, the assassin must pose as the corporations Trade Show Producer in order to pull off this latest hit, while maintaining his cover by organizing the high-profile wedding of Yonica Babyyeah (Hilary Duff), an outrageous Central Asian pop star, and keeping a sexy left-wing reporter (Marisa Tomei) in check.

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Customer Reviews



5 out of 5 stars This movie was great!    December 28, 2008
Sean Anomie (San Francisco)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I thought this was very canny, dead-on satire of corporate policies in the Middle East. Cusak did a great job. His nuanced performance expressed a lot of backhanded humor. All the caricatures were dead-on, and Hillary Duff's character was hysterical. The story had moral and philosophical depth. Surrealist Mark Leyner's influence can be seen throughout the film (he wrote the screenplay, along with Cusak and Jeremy Pisker), yet still it is not very much more surreal than what I know to be happening in Baghdad currently. Very symbolic, very relevant to current affairs, an absolute must-see.


2 out of 5 stars Nice concept, right actors but an absolute directorial and writing disaster    November 29, 2008
Dreggor Gade
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

I saw most of this movie in the theater, but the film's direction is absolutely unbearable. There are moments when the satire does shine through the sloppiness of the film-maker, but it's a train wreck of a film. If you can suffer through terrible directing and extremely sloppy story-writing, then you may be able to sit through this whole movie. The actors are just fine, and the ideas are fine, but it's a poorly executed mess. That's probably why it was shelved for several years before finally seeing a small theatrical release. And if this is the best job the editors could do with it... then I'd hate to see what the original first several cuts looked like.

Going into this movie I really wanted to like it. I loved "Grosse Point Blank." (This is supposed to be an unofficial sequel of sorts.) I love the Cusacks' work. I like the concept. I tried very hard to like the film, but had to leave after watching most of it. Like I said, if you can ignore things like sloppy, loose-ended writing and film direction that's the visual equivalent to hearing fingernails on a chalk board, you stand a chance of enjoying it. I couldn't deal with this horrible mess no matter how hard I tried. I'm giving it two stars instead of one simply because I didn't watch the last twenty minutes or so, and while I doubt it got any better, I have to allow for some slack. Otherwise this would be a one star review.

Most likely you are better off watching "Grosse Point Blank" again instead.


5 out of 5 stars Political satire at its best!    November 25, 2008
Jeanne Brooks (Denver)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

This film is laugh-out-loud funny. John Cusack is hilarious as a morally conflicted hit man caught in a situation that he can neither walk away from or endure. Hillary Duff is perfect as the spoiled, self-absorbed pop star and Marisa Tomei brings home the part of the left-wing journalist trying to make sense of the ludicrous situation. And, of course, Joan Cusack is always a pleasure to watch especially when she's playing off her brother. The political satire is dead-on and would be even funnier if it didn't reflect the reality of current events.