Film Review: This Means War
Director: McG
Writer: Timothy Dowling (screenplay & story), Simon Kinberg (screenplay), Marcus Gautesen (story)
Cast: Chris Pine, Tom Hardy, Reese Witherspoon, Til Schweiger, Chelsea Handler, Abigail Spencer, Angela Bassett, Rosemary Harris
After being grounded due a semi-botched operation, two C.I.A agents (Chris Pine & Tom Hardy) return to daily lives where they find themselves waging their own kind of war with each other for the affections of a woman (Reese Witherspoon) they are both dating.
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It’s been a while since McG last directed a film and almost as long since we’ve last seen Chris Pine and Reese Witherspoon in a movie. McG last directed Terminator Salvation, Chris Pine last appeared in Unstoppable and Reese Witherspoon last appeared in How Do You Know. You may also think the same thing about Tom Hardy since not a lot of people went out to go see Warrior when it was released last year. So what’s the result when all four come together in This Means War? A surprisingly fun movie.
The strength of this movie is in the film’s two leading men: Chris Pine and Tom Hardy. They’re really great together on screen. They have a lot of chemistry and they’re great at playing off each other. They consistently had me laughing whenever they were on screen together and they really play up their rivalry. They both have their own distinctive personality traits, though arguably basic in their concept: Chris Pine is the player, whereas Tom Hardy is the romantic. Still, they play the roles in a fun and charismatic way where you like both characters.
Now the film starts off rather slow despite an action sequence to open it up. It’s only when both Chris Pine and Tom Hardy find out they’re dating the same girl that the movie really starts to pick up and becomes a fun film. It is fun watching these two go out on dates with Reese Witherspoon and watching how they both interfere with each other’s said dates. It’s a joy to watch them trying to one up each other to the point of recruiting their own team of agents for help. The supporting cast is especially funny in their interactions with the three leads. I consistently found myself laughing throughout this portion of the movie.
The main problem I had with the whole dating portion of the film was that I just didn’t see what the leads saw in Reese Witherspoon. She just wasn’t that likable a character to me and I just kept wondering why these two men would go to such lengths for her. I was just never sold on their attraction to her character. Yes, Reese Witherspoon is still an attractive woman, but there really isn’t a lot of her character that’s shown to make you believe both men fall for her, which isn’t the case for the leads because it’s pretty obvious why she would fall for them.
However, the film’s biggest weakness is its writing. The way they tie in the eventual confrontation where all leads are in one room and the film’s villain—that only makes brief appearances here and there throughout the movie—is all just so convenient and lazy. It’s a forced climax with a weak villain that’s only there to justify the leads being two C.I.A agents. It’s a real shame because the villain is played by Til Schweiger, who most audiences will remember as Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz from Inglorious Basterds. He’s just wasted in this movie.
This Means War does deliver in the romance comedy angle of the film, but the action is pretty much just there as a second thought, which I found a bit odd because the director is McG who is known for action. The film is fun and carried by the chemistry of its leads and is worth a watch, but definitely not in theatres.
GO Rating: 2.5/5
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