War Inc.--or Hollywood's most loveably Hitman!
January 5th 2009 22:22
Will Joan and John Cusack be able to recapture the comic chemistry they brought to the cult hit Gross Point Blank back in the day? That was the question I asked myself when I was browsing through my local Red Box the other day and stumbled across War Inc. The descriptive text attached to the movie portrayed Cusack as a brooding, morally corrupt, but ultimately loveable (because isn’t he always?) Hitman sent to some vaguely familiar central Asian country to assassinate Omar Sharif—no, not the actor.
I actually believed his character in Grosse Point Blank and there’s just something strange that happens when he and his sister share the screen together. It’s akin to what Charlie sheen and Emilio Estevez had back in the day before Emilio got all chubby and Charlie went all sleazy/cool. It’s almost as if the two can read each other’s minds and feed off the quirky energy each of them is giving off. If real life were an episode of Star Trek, I would say that perhaps the two Cusacks were actually halves of the same being but, alas, it is not.
After a few seconds of hesitation, I decided it didn’t really matter. I’d watch pretty much anything Mr. Cusack was in, he’s been one of my fav’s for a long time and though his career seems to be starting down that slippery slope into anonymity, I will watch him until the bitter end.
That said, the movie itself is actually quite funny. It’s obviously low budget. The special effects are cheesy, and there are a few instances where it tries to take itself seriously and just doesn’t quite work but overall it was worth the rental. Granted Red Box rentals are only a dollar and some change but I had the movie for four days.
The description really didn’t match the movie at all. Cusack does play a hitman (morally challenged and constantly drowning his dilemmas in hot sauce shooters) and there are a couple of cool scenes in between he credits where he kicks some serious behind but overall it’s more about the commercialization of modern warfare, the privatization of armies, and the seemingly bottomless quagmire of an impossible-to-win war. Now that you mention it, Turakistan (the fictional country that plays host to Cusack and his power-mad overlord—Ben Kingsley) does look a lot like Iraq and Afghanistan—funny I didn’t notice it before!
The cast is a motley crew to be sure; the two Cusack’s, Mr. Kingsley, Dan Akroyd, Montell Williams, and Hillary Duff. Yes, Hillary Duff. She’s plays Cusack’s long lost daughter who’s been pimped out and turned into the mid-Asian pop princess equivalent of Hannah Montana complete with skanky little outfits and a frightful singing voice! I guess she didn’t have to stretch too hard to fit into the role. The only thing mentioning about her character is that her crappy fake accent nearly made my ears bleed.
The movie’s plot plays out like giant pile of potentially funny skits mashed together with ham-handed delicacy that deadens whatever redeeming value the whole product may have had. There’s a few laughs, a few cool action sequences, a bunch of bad singing and worse acting, and a pile of cast members that will hopefully never get another acting job—at least not until they learn the craft a little more.
But, like I said, it’s got the Cusacks so I watched it and I liked it. I have a feeling I may be the only one.
I actually believed his character in Grosse Point Blank and there’s just something strange that happens when he and his sister share the screen together. It’s akin to what Charlie sheen and Emilio Estevez had back in the day before Emilio got all chubby and Charlie went all sleazy/cool. It’s almost as if the two can read each other’s minds and feed off the quirky energy each of them is giving off. If real life were an episode of Star Trek, I would say that perhaps the two Cusacks were actually halves of the same being but, alas, it is not.
After a few seconds of hesitation, I decided it didn’t really matter. I’d watch pretty much anything Mr. Cusack was in, he’s been one of my fav’s for a long time and though his career seems to be starting down that slippery slope into anonymity, I will watch him until the bitter end.
That said, the movie itself is actually quite funny. It’s obviously low budget. The special effects are cheesy, and there are a few instances where it tries to take itself seriously and just doesn’t quite work but overall it was worth the rental. Granted Red Box rentals are only a dollar and some change but I had the movie for four days.
The description really didn’t match the movie at all. Cusack does play a hitman (morally challenged and constantly drowning his dilemmas in hot sauce shooters) and there are a couple of cool scenes in between he credits where he kicks some serious behind but overall it’s more about the commercialization of modern warfare, the privatization of armies, and the seemingly bottomless quagmire of an impossible-to-win war. Now that you mention it, Turakistan (the fictional country that plays host to Cusack and his power-mad overlord—Ben Kingsley) does look a lot like Iraq and Afghanistan—funny I didn’t notice it before!
The cast is a motley crew to be sure; the two Cusack’s, Mr. Kingsley, Dan Akroyd, Montell Williams, and Hillary Duff. Yes, Hillary Duff. She’s plays Cusack’s long lost daughter who’s been pimped out and turned into the mid-Asian pop princess equivalent of Hannah Montana complete with skanky little outfits and a frightful singing voice! I guess she didn’t have to stretch too hard to fit into the role. The only thing mentioning about her character is that her crappy fake accent nearly made my ears bleed.
The movie’s plot plays out like giant pile of potentially funny skits mashed together with ham-handed delicacy that deadens whatever redeeming value the whole product may have had. There’s a few laughs, a few cool action sequences, a bunch of bad singing and worse acting, and a pile of cast members that will hopefully never get another acting job—at least not until they learn the craft a little more.
But, like I said, it’s got the Cusacks so I watched it and I liked it. I have a feeling I may be the only one.
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