War on Everyone certainly caught me by surprise and it is in apt title in a few ways. This is also one of the more un-PC movies I’ve come across and thanks to that, as well as the performances from Skarsgård and Peña, at least makes it memorable even when the pacing was off.
War on Everyone
(2016)
Genre(s): Comedy, Crime, Drama
Lionsgate | R – 98 min. – $24.99 | April 11, 2017
Date Published: 04/11/2017 | Author: The Movieman
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THE MOVIE — 3.0/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: Terry (ALEXANDER SKARSGARD) and Bob (MICHAEL PENA) are two crooked cops who frame and blackmail criminals all over town. Looking for the ultimate pay-off, they try to extort a strip club manager (CALEB LANDRY JONES) and his unconventional, junkie boss (THEO JAMES), but get more than they bargained for when their hair-brained scheme uncovers a bigger, darker secret. Quick Hit Review:
“That was some cold shit.” John Michael McDonagh, a British filmmaker I’m not overly familiar with, though I had seen his feature debut The Guard some years back, marks his third feature with War on Everyone, a brash, un-PC film that provides some awkward laughs for sure but also had odd pacing and a thin story with an even thinner villain as portrayed by Theo James. Where the film is at its strongest is when Skarsgård and Peña are together and share some great comedic chemistry but once the focus is put upon story, things screech almost to a halt and thus why this could’ve been a whole lot better yet still managed to entertain. The supporting cast includes Tessa Thompson as a former stripper, whom Terry falls for; Caleb Landry Jones as an uber-eccentric side-protagonist; an unrecognizable Paul Reiser (well at least I didn’t realize it until afterward) as Terry and Bob’s boss; and Theo James who was a forgettable villain.
If you’re okay with oddball, hard-R rated comedies (which makes me wonder if McDonagh was better suited to write and direct the CHiPs feature film), with some cringe-worthy (in the best kind of way) un-politically correct humor, then it’s well worth a rental. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 1.0/5 |
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This release comes with a matted slip cover. Inside is a DVD Copy and redemption code for the Digital HD copy. The only feature is Everyone Sounds Off: The Quirky Cast of War on Everyone (6:59; HD) featurette which has behind-the-scenes footage and sound-bites with the cast and crew. Previews – Skiptrace, The Trust, John Wick: Chapter Two, Allegiant, I Am Wrath |
VIDEO – 4.0/5 |
| Lionsgate releases War on Everyone onto Blu-ray and is shown with a 2.39 widescreen aspect ratio and given a 1080p high-definition transfer. For the most part, this is a pleasant looking picture and is keeping with the comedic tone (save for the sick dramatic turn later) with bright colors but still stark darks for the nighttime shots. It’s relatively clean, free of aliasing or artifacts and even grain is kept a minimum. |
AUDIO – 3.5/5 |
| The disc comes with your standard DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and its simply serviceable, nothing more, nothing less. It does provide for clean dialogue levels mainly coming out of the center speaker but it’s not anything strong or robust when it comes to the various shoot out scenes which didn’t have much of an impact and sounded flat. |
OVERALL – 2.75/5 |
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Overall, War on Everyone certainly caught me by surprise and it is in apt title in a few ways. This is also one of the more un-PC movies I’ve come across and thanks to that, as well as the performances from Skarsgård and Peña, at least makes it memorable even when the pacing was off and the tone wildly shifted when a twist is revealed. The Blu-ray released through Lionsgate offers up good video/audio transfers but falters in the features department. |
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.