If you come to War Dogs expecting a comedy from Hangover director Todd Phillips, then you made a wrong turn somewhere around Albania. It’s safe to say that he knows bros.
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This isn’t your mom and dad’s action war movie. While everything was quite shady, there was nothing illegal going on till they bid on a $300 million ammunition contract they really should have avoided.
And Phillips continued, “Even though it’s like colorful and there’s a lot of fucked up shit that happens, if the movie is political at all, that’s its statement”. But the guy still plays to his strengths. Some might question why a movie with such serious subject matter requires that sensibility, and that is fair.
Based on a true story, War Dogs centers on David Packouz (Miles Teller) and Efraim Diveroli (Jonah Hill), two reckless yet resourceful opportunists who land a $300 million contract from the Pentagon to arm the US allies in Afghanistan with 100 million rounds of AK-47 ammo.
Childhood friends Efraim Diveroli (Jonah Hill) and David Packouz (Miles Teller) reunite as 20-somethings, after Efraim moves back to Miami following his years spent in L.A. While living in the City of Angels, Efraim learns the gun business from his uncle; buying and selling guns over the Internet for profit.
Efraim is doing well for himself, carving out a niche as a small-timer, supplying the USA military with weaponry and gear on contracts small enough that the multinationals aren’t interested. When they meet up at a funeral, David, who is fed up with his life as a massage therapist, becomes infatuated with Efraim, who is fulfilling small deal government weapons contracts. When their first contract winds up seized at customs, the two are forced to travel to Jordan and ride with a truckload of Berettas all the way to Baghdad.
In this case, that third party ends up being Efraim and David, who suddenly stand to make a fortune if they can buy from Henry, sell to the Pentagon, and somehow stay alive while doing so.
But Hill was more intrigued by the fact that the arms dealers looked just like him: “These people that are at the table next to you in a restaurant, you would never know they are global arms dealers!” And two-time Academy award nominee Hill plays Efraim with such irresistible bravura you’d follow him anywhere. He’s a chameleon of sorts, always becoming precisely who he needs to be in order to close a deal.
Hill and Teller are fantastic together and have an instant chemistry on the screen together, which you can see in the trailer but comes through even more so in the whole movie.
The humor in War Dogs serves as the antidote for a true story that should actually make your blood boil.
But it’s a bark that’s loud and frequently enjoyable.
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Efraim has a bigger plan in mind and brings David into the fold. Pictures shows Bradley Cooper in a scene from, “War Dogs”.
