Film

War, Inc. (2006)

Movie review

From Short Review - NY

*** (Three stars)
A little reminiscent of Grosse Pointe Blank, this John Cusack vehicle features the writer, director and actor as assassin and mercenary Brand Hauser, who is disillusioned with his life and bored by his profession. Then he's sent off to Turaqistan, a Middle East country that has been invaded and occupied by a U.S. corporation, and tasked with killing an oil minister whose independent pipeline poses a threat to American corporate interests.

While Cusack plays his typical good guy with existential angst, Marisa Tomei enters the fray as a feisty reporter who's trying to get a view of the "real" Turaqistan by escaping the fortified Green Zone where reporters are kept. (Her colleagues opt for an "embedded reporter implant" that merely simulates combat expeditions and activities.) As she digs for insights on how regular Turaqistanis are being affected by the U.S. occupation, she finds herself at odds with Cusack's character (but naturally drawn to him as well).

The most enjoyable part of the movie is the sharp banter among the Cusack siblings (Joan plays her brother's assistant), Tomei and the corporate honchos who give Hauser his marching orders. The film's secondary figures—complacent reporters, news anchors, and especially the fiancé of a local pop star and his entourage of 50 Cent wanna-bes—are awfully familiar and one-dimensional for a supposedly smart satire.—Jeff Vargas, technology director

[This is a TONY staff review, written for the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival. It is not considered an official review and should not be read as such. Please think of it as a casual impression from a movie-loving friend.] 

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