How entertaining? ★★★★☆
Thought provoking? ★★☆☆☆ 10 March 2016
A movie review of WAR ON EVERYONE. |
“Don’t get obstreperous with me, motherf***er,” Bob Bolaño (Michael Peña)
That line epitomises the three features directed by John Michael McDonagh: Articulate, foul-mouthed, bolshy leads constantly attempting to subvert expectations. McDonagh seems so anti any kind of formula/cliché/predictability that his films have an almost random quality at times. WAR ON EVERYONE joins THE GUARD for non-politically correct law enforcement. However, it is not in the same league as the superlative CALVARY, a work so rare as to be both simultaneously laugh-out-loud hilarious and disturbingly oppressive.
That line epitomises the three features directed by John Michael McDonagh: Articulate, foul-mouthed, bolshy leads constantly attempting to subvert expectations. McDonagh seems so anti any kind of formula/cliché/predictability that his films have an almost random quality at times. WAR ON EVERYONE joins THE GUARD for non-politically correct law enforcement. However, it is not in the same league as the superlative CALVARY, a work so rare as to be both simultaneously laugh-out-loud hilarious and disturbingly oppressive.
|
|
Echoes of the cop genre are initially offered, and then quickly dispatched. Stall is set out immediately with a car chase. Detectives Bob Bolaño and Terry Monroe (Alexander Skarsgård) are pursuing a perp, who also happens to be a mime (told you, random!), while they are aggressively descending in a muscle car (which wouldn’t be out of place in ‘70s TV show ‘Starsky and Hutch’). Not only are the odds deeply stacked in their favour, they have a mercilessness without compunction. Bolaño wonders whether a mime makes a sound when hit by a car. Monroe carries out the experiment. It turns out they don’t. The mime having already surrendered, they still maim him anyway. And steal his brick of cocaine, which they later use to plant on a snitch to get information.
You get it, right? They are dishonest. ‘The Shield’ already spent seven magnificent seasons cataloguing the Greek tragedy of such a unit of bankrupt policemen. What the WAR ON EVERYONE does differently is make the duo extremely likable, having a moral centre, just a predilection for bribery and corruption. Not exactly Robin Hoods, they still do take from wrongdoers, but keep the spoils. Bolaño lives in a palatial home with a stunning wife, Delores (Stephanie Sigman – MISS BALA, SPECTRE), and argue philosophy over breakfast, with two sweet kids commenting in the background.
LETHAL WEAPON-style partners expectation is swotted away immediately. Bob is highly educated and eloquent. Delores is no homely trophy spouse. Monroe is on the other hand an emotional mess, continually drunk, yet still able to function. His place is minimally expansive (think De Niro’s pad in HEAT). Walking around with a stoop, Monroe moves like a combination of Neanderthal and coiled snake. He has a punch that can floor with a single strike. Later, when tortured (this is a McDonagh movie), he tells his captors that they can do whatever they like to him as everything has been done already. How often has a hero been given that backstory? In the novel ‘John Dies at the End’ such an idea is also suggested. (It was turned into a terrible movie. A filmmaker of McDonagh’s skill might have delivered something striking.)
Cutting a swathe of chaos through New Mexico, to the chagrin of boss Lieutenant Gerry Stanton (Paul Reiser – ALIENS), oblivious to moral and legal norms, Bob and Terry meet their match in Brit crime lord, a literal peer, Lord Mangan (Theo James). Smelling an epic payday, the cops bite off more than they can chew. Of course, they can either walk away or arrest, but they also foolhardily want big bucks. Avaricious motivation has us surprisingly worry for them.
When kinda girlfriend Jackie (Tessa Thompson) asks where Terry is, a kid, Danny, states, “I think he’s gone to kill a whole bunch of people.” Yep.
Using these Google Adsense links help us keep Filmaluation free for all film and arts lovers.
|
|