Saturday, February 18, 2012
This Means War (M)
Sealed with a release on Valentine’s Day, the latest kiss to
cinema from ‘everywhere’ filmmaker McG gives the impression that he would
rather go to war. Two friends’ fighting over a dream girl constitutes the basis
of a loving date to the movies for some – but invading said girl’s privacy and
compromising their jobs? It’s a bit much.
Lauren (Reese Witherspoon) is a woman that doesn’t have it
all. She loves her job but can’t find a man after getting burned by her
ex-boyfriend. She gets pushed into using an online dating service by the sneaky
Trish (Chelsea Handler) and manages to meet Tuck (Tom Hardy). But it gets
complicated when she decides to date his best friend and CIA partner FDR (Chris
Pine) on the side.
Yes, FDR. How bizarre. When there are leads with names like
that, you really don’t know how seriously you can take a film. Even Reese
Witherspoon saying it, of all people, sounds incredibly strained and even more
incredibly stupid. It’s not comforting coming from one of Hollywood’s highest-paid
actresses.
But there is no doubt that everyone is perfectly suited to
their character. Witherspoon is strong and desirable yet confused, while Pine
is the somewhat lovable/hateable cad and Hardy is the one you pity because he’s
the good guy who deserves better. Yet the Brit is easily the most likeable
thing about this film. If you haven’t already, the Tom Hardy bandwagon is a
good one to jump on for 2012.
For all the suitability of the central trio, it seems almost
pointless to have baddie Heinrich (Til Schweiger) in the mix. While the boys’
jobs at the CIA are dangerous and all the rest of it, so much of the story
centres on the romantic sub-plot that the action very quickly impresses as merely
a filler.
The action itself is not terribly spectacular, which makes
it even more of a letdown coming from McG, his first directorial feature since
2009’s Terminator Salvation. While
the film is still very much his style with a hybrid blend of action and
romance, it takes itself more seriously than some of his other works like Charlie’s Angels and doesn’t come off
better for it.
To his credit McG keeps it (almost) all fair in love and
war, as the saying goes, but overall it feels a little bit empty. Most of the
laughs that come from this are either out of embarrassment from a rather brash
cultural reference or disbelief at the lengths the men go to in trying to win
Lauren’s heart.
This film is slick, but even with bringing on Will Smith as
a producer it ultimately produces a lacklustre result. The whipped up mix of
everything promises something bigger than it should and never truly delivers. This
film could mean war on McG, at least
from those who don’t already hate the much-criticised filmmaker.
Rating: 2.5/5
*As published in the Daily Liberal (Dubbo), Western Advocate (Bathurst), Parkes Champion Post and Midstate Observer (Orange) from Saturday 18/2/2012
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