War Dogs
Strong Scorsese-vibes, but ends up less Goodfellas homage, more Wolf of Wall Street rip off.
Legit shocked Todd Phillips directed this given his filmography to that point included Old School, Starsky & Hutch, and The Hangover trilogy. Rather sharp left turn in vision statement there, but considering he'd go on to helm Joker, this would appear a conscious effort at the time to break free of his Frat Pack roots.
In the end, it's interesting and ambitious for sure, but ultimately doesn't work. There is a compelling true story here, that's simply told poorly, with oddly one-dimensional performances.
And that last part really doesn't make sense given the cast of Hill, Teller, de Armis, and Cooper on paper should be an instant knockout. Here they all come across as dreary caricatures.
Hill is supposed to be the smarmy jerk hypnotizing people through sheer magnetic charisma - think Superbad's Seth all grown-up. Instead it's made clear early he has no other friends, is hugely insecure, and telegraphs his backstabbing ways with a megaphone.
Teller channels his Whiplash persona of abused-nerd-cum-stoic-badass efficiently, but it becomes really hard to empathize with some of his more outlandish decisions as we get deeper into the weeds. Plus, his narrative voiceover is "theatrical cut of Blade Runner" bad, telling the audience in a faux-gravely monotone ideas and events that were literally just expressed in a scene moments earlier.
As for de Armis, after powerhouse performances in both BR2049 and Knives Out, she's replaced the conspicuously absent Alicia Vikander on my list of young breakout actors' whose careers I need to track, so I have some unfairly high expectations of her, even if this movie preceded both of her awards-worthy triumphs. Yet here she had me screaming in dumbfounded disbelief at the screen. She reacts to discovering her husband secretly ran guns through Fallujeh the way my wife does when I eat the last fudgesicle. To say I know she is capable of far more range is a gross understatement; she was after all the beating heart breathing emotional life into the center of a cyberpunk movie. Here she's relegated to mere 'complication' 'inconvenience', or 'distraction' for our hero's journey of self-discovery and illegal arms deals.
Ultimately, I'd call the film frustrating. There is a gem under the rough here, and some truly standout moments, but it doesn't come together as a cohesive unit. Blame it on a director cutting his teeth into a new gritty genre.