War Dogs is based on a true story about two guys in their 20s that pick up a weapons contract with the Pentagon. Starting small allows the duo to rake in money and live the high life. But the strategy changes when, incredibly, the guys land a $300 million deal to supply arms to the Afghan military. “With this, you have a little more liberty to, um, take more liberties, and I think we did that with their characters”, Phillips said. Now Phillips’ new movie is out in theaters with War Dogs starring Jonah Hill and Miles Teller.
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The story, based on a 2011 Rolling Stone article, is truly insane, and co-writer and director Todd Phillips does a good job pacing it. [And the] one thing the movie shows is how susceptible someone can be when everything is put in front of him on a silver platter and how people deal with excess differently.
With “The Big Short” just previous year, Adam McKay brought comedic sensibilities to the complexities behind financial corruption, dissecting a scandal with humor, insight, and most importantly, a constant undercurrent of outrage that “War Dogs” is missing. If you find foul language offensive, do not go to this movie because nearly every line of dialogue is laden with the F-bomb. But, I had to pretend to be a person who was really enjoying that. Conveniently, Packouz is then reunited with childhood friend and bad influence Diveroli, who sucks him into the world of shady – but legitimate – arms deals on behalf of the United States government. The deal will make them ridiculously rich. As told in “War Dogs”, it is a venture that will see the pair cutting corners and test their friendship, as Efraim becomes increasingly greedy. The problem with most morality and cautionary tales is that they beat you over the head with the message. This is, after all, a movie about two stoner buds who, in 2007, landed a $300 million contract with the US government to supply the Afghan army with millions of rounds of ammunition. We would go to parties and people would go to parties and people would introduce themselves: “I’m a stockbroker or I’m in real estate…” War Dogs has a similar style and shape to that Scorsese film, but nothing to match the shambling brilliance of Leonardo DiCaprio’s sozzled drive in a Lamborghini, say. At 2 hours and 29 minutes the movie feels too long, but getting right to the action would have shaved off a desperately needed half hour or more. People get into an emotional mood and perhaps are paying more attention to the candidates and the issues and so forth.
“There are, like, gangster elements to it”, said Teller, best known for the young adult sci-fi movie franchise “Divergent”.
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To make his casting even more special, Teller admits he wasn’t even on filmmaker Todd’s mind while the director was first crafting the vision for War Dogs.
