Featuring a screenplay that could have been dredged up from the fever swamps of the left-wing blogsphere, War, Inc. is a chaotic, painfully obvious attempt at political satire. Obsessed with the role of corporate entities such as Halliburton in the waging of the Iraq War, Joshua Seftel's film has all the edge of a Tom and Jerry cartoon. Dan Aykroyd plays an ex-vice president (read: Dick Cheney) who orders CIA hit man Brand Hauser (John Cusack) to assassinate a Middle Eastern oil minister named Omar Sharif (ooh, funny) before he can build an oil pipeline that will infringe upon the interests of super-corporation Tamerlane. Arriving in the country of Turaqistan, Hauser heads for a protected area known as the Emerald City (like Baghdad's Green Zone, get it?), where he encounters such diverse personalities as public-relations legend Marsha Dillon (Joan Cusack), Middle Eastern pop superstar Yonica Babyyeah (a nearly unrecognizable Hilary Duff), and liberal reporter Natalie Hegalhuzen (Marisa Tomei), who appeals to Hauser to abandon his mission. Topical references abound, but any relationship to the truth is strictly coincidental, and most of the satirical possibilities are frittered away in this lame film that is full of cheap partisan jibes and broadly stereotypical situations. Not recommended. (E. Hulse)
War, Inc.
First Look, 107 min., R, DVD: $28.99, Blu-ray: $34.99, Oct. 14 Volume 23, Issue 5
War, Inc.
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As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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