War Dogs- Movie Review

Last week, I had the pleasure of catching an early screening of War Dogs. Being that I love Miles Teller and Jonah Hill, I was very excited about this film. Both are fantastic actors and I knew from the trailer that their chemistry would be unprecedented. I didn't think this film would be that great though. Late summer releases aren't usually the best. Yet, War Dogs was a pleasant late summer surprise.

Miles Teller and Jonah are fantastic in this film. The duo's chemistry is fantastic. I didn't expect any less. This was the first film where Teller was a real leading man. He was good in Whiplash but he didn't really get to display acting chops in that. He kind of just cried and looked intense the whole time in that. He was awesome in this. He was extremely funny but, when it called for it, also extremely intense. Jonah Hill was also fantastic. His character was similar to his Wolf of Wall Street performance except a little more conniving. Bradley Cooper is also in this film for a little bit and his character is extremely fascinating. Through and through, the cast is great. 

I also loved this story. I had never heard of this so I was completely unaware that any of this ever took place. This film was hilarious at times and also had it's very intense character moments. This didn't glorify these people at all and I respected that. It wasn't one of those "bad guys are cool" movies. It really showed the consequences of illegal actions but also maintained a great charm throughout the film. The film also really showcased things well. The topic of army contracts can be extremely difficult and director Todd Phillips did a great job explaining everything. I also loved how the film was split into chapters. It really helped with the pace.

I also have to give a lot props to Todd Phillips. If you don't know, he directed The Hangover trilogy and this was his big first step in a serious direction. He took some aspects of what made The Hangover great and applied them to this flick. Both had premises of "what happens when idiots make poor decisions" and he twisted this story to be more serious. While this film isn't perfect, it has a lot of positives within the near two hour run time. 

My only complaint was when stuff in this film got serious, it became semi-hard to take it seriously. This film is full of laughs so when the going got tough on screen, people in my audience still laughed. The tone was a little sloppy at times and the gravity of situations was sometimes forgotten.

Through and through, if you're looking for a very good summer flick, check out War Dogs.

Rating: B