war inc movie review

War is commerce by other means

A CIA assassin (John Cusack) heads for the Middle East in War, Inc.

“War, Inc.” is a brave and ambitious but chaotic attempt at political satire. The targets: the war in Iraq, and the shadowy role of Vice President Dick Cheney’s onetime corporate home Halliburton in the waging of the war. Dan Aykroyd plays an “ex-vice president,” unmistakably Cheney, issuing orders to CIA hit man Brand Hauser ( John Cusack ) to assassinate a Middle Eastern oil minister named Omar Sharif (not much of a joke), whose plans to build a pipeline in his country run counter to the schemes of the super corporation Tamerlane.

Hauser is an intriguing character, seen chugging shot glasses of hot sauce for reasons that are no doubt as significant as they are obscure. “I feel like a refugee from the island of Dr. Moreau,” he confides at one point to the onboard computer on his private plane, a sort of sympathetic HAL 9000. Arriving in the country of Turaqistan, he finds warfare raging everywhere, except within a protected area known as the Emerald City, for which of course we are to read Baghdad’s Green Zone. Here American corporations are so entrenched that Hauser reaches the secret bunker of the Viceroy (a Tamerlane puppet) through a Popeye’s Fried Chicken store.

That sort of satire runs through the movie, which is neither quite serious nor quite funny, but very busy with trying to be one or the other. Lots of other brand names (in addition to Brand Hauser) appear in connection with an expo being staged by public relations whiz Marsha Dillon ( Joan Cusack ), who becomes Hauser’s cynical adviser. Among her plan for the expo: The televised wedding of Middle Eastern pop superstar Yonica Babyyeah ( Hilary Duff , but you won’t recognize her).

Arriving in Turaqistan about the same time as Hauser is Natalie Hegalhuzen ( Marisa Tomei ), a reporter for liberal magazines, whose character and others in the film illustrate my First Law of Funny Names, which teaches us that they are rarely funny. She is a warm, pretty woman who quickly appeals to Hauser, already having second thoughts about his hit-man role. She’s smart, too, with an occasional tendency to talk like she’s writing (she describes Yonica as “a sad little girl who’s been pimped out into a pathetic monstrosity of Western sexuality”).

All of the story strands come together into a bewildering series of solutions and conclusions, in which the fictional heritage of the name “Emerald City” plays a prominent role. But the intended satire isn’t as focused or merciless as it could be and tries too hard to keep too many balls in the air. The movie’s time period is hard to nail down; the opening titles refer to the “21st century,” but of course that’s the present, and current names are referred to (McLaughlin, Anderson Cooper, Cheney, Katie Couric , 50 Cent, etc). One particularly brilliant invention is Combat-O-Rama, which is a version of a Disney World virtual reality thrill ride allowing journalists to experience battle through what I guess you’d call “virtual embedding.”

John Cusack is the power behind the film, as star, top-billed writer and one of the producers. He deserves credit for trying to make something topical, controversial and uncompromised. The elements are all here. But the parts never come together. Cusack has made 56 films and is only 42 years old, and his quality control is uncanny. He shies away from unworthy projects and is always available to take a chance. A project like “War, Inc.” must not have been easy to finance, shows a determination to make a movie that makes a statement and is honorable. Sometimes the best intentions don’t pay off. I wanted to like it more than I could.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

Joan Cusack as Marsha Dillon
Lyubomir Neikov as Omar Sharif
John Cusack as Brand Hauser
Dan Aykroyd as Vice President
Marisa Tomei as Natalie
Hilary Duff as Yonica
Ben Kingsley as Walken
Jeremy Pikser
John Cusack
Mark Leyner

Directed by

Joshua Seftel

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War, Inc. Reviews

At its best, War, Inc. reaches the level of a biting-and courageous-political satire.

Full Review | Mar 5, 2021

Besides its grating smugness, the picture pummels you with its political points until you want to kick it in the shin. There are a few laughs and a lot of embarrassing moments.

Full Review | May 7, 2020

"War, Inc." transforms from a precise satire taking a scalpel to the absurdities of the war on terror to a bludgeoning sledgehammer.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | May 7, 2020

For all the great performances, clever sight gags and relevant issues concerning the corporate take over of America, "War, Inc." is never all that it can be.

A few times, it hits its comic mark, but far more frequently, it gets distracted by hyperactive, irrelevant subplots.

The funny moments (some of them supplied by Joan Cusack and Ben Kingsley) aren't quite enough to make this a movie. It's a mess, but the sense of commitment is impressive, and sometimes exhilarating.

Surrounded by sententiousness and self-preening, Marisa Tomei manages to play a skeptical journalist with easy charm, but her efforts are doomed by the movie's ceaseless barrage of dumb bombs.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 18, 2011

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 17, 2011

This absurdist political farce has its moments but requires a deft touch for satire ... perhaps no one could have made the uneven script work.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jul 30, 2009

Sophisticated political satire, ridiculous farce, black humour, spoof, intellectual game playing and comic invention

Full Review | Feb 6, 2009

It's as if the movie is stuck in a muddy middle, unable to go whole hog with its sending up of toxic Americana and unwilling to be serious about exploring how toxic it really is.

Full Review | Oct 29, 2008

War, Inc. squanders some top-tier talent (Marisa Tomei, Sir Ben Kingsley) as well as our patience.

Full Review | Oct 18, 2008

What is supposed to be a sharp parody is so slow, we're always several steps ahead.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Oct 18, 2008

Full Review | Original Score: C | Oct 18, 2008

Either too cartoonish, or not cartoonish enough.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 18, 2008

This John Cusack-driven exercise in scorched-earth political comedy is neither as dark nor as timely as intended, and certainly not as funny.

Piercingly funny political satire with terrific cast is on view in this future-set story.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 18, 2008

Full Review | Original Score: B | Oct 18, 2008

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 18, 2008

Cast & crew

User reviews

John Cusack, Joan Cusack, Marisa Tomei, Ben Kingsley, and Hilary Duff in War, Inc. (2008)

A funny, silly ride

May 6, 2008

"...sh-t happens"

Tyler_Seymour_Wallach
May 11, 2008

A Libertarian's take on a war satire

The acting (by the main characters,at least) was good, as was to be expected. Some of John Cusack's dialogue was quite obviously not written for him as he often seemed uncomfortable saying it. . . maybe unrealistic is more accurate. Joan put forth a great, and often hilarious, performance. Marisa Tomei, while I've never been a big fan of hers, was more than suitable for the role and worked well. Hillary Duff, however, was pretty terrible. They needed an attractive Middle Eastern (or Russian, or whatever that accent was supposed to be) pop-star. Unfortunately, they went 0 for 3 with her.
Like I said above, the writing seemed a little stiff and mismatched at points, especially John Cusack's dialogue. Not much of it, mind, but some. The story also got a bit ludicrous at points, which is fine for a satire to a point, but it took it to a whole new level here. Luckily, the Cusacks and Tomei keep a relatively cool, calm demeanor throughout, and that makes a nice even mix of the craziness of the film and the levelheadedness of the actors.
Joshua Seftel, who previously had a drought of real credits to his name, did a fine job with a rather wide-spectrum film. He handled the small ($10 million) budget very well, stretching it to make it appear to be much more. Seftel also managed to nicely blend the humour of the story. . . with the painful and hard-to-watch parts of the real war (including slaughter of civilians, etc.).
As far as the general satire goes, its exaggerated look on the commercializing of war is very well done, especially the 'Golden Palace Poker' ads on the U.S. tanks. At points, it becomes a little too much, but, in the end, it still accurate portrays what it's going for an a young 'Mel Brooks'-type of style.
Shattered_Wake
Jun 4, 2008

Mistakes Kubrick never would have made.

Apr 26, 2008

A really fun ride

Gimme_Fiction
Apr 22, 2008

Dr Strangelove it ain't!

Mar 12, 2009

A Funny and Topical satire.

Jun 1, 2008

So....wasn't it supposed to be funny?

Dec 26, 2008

Thoroughly Enjoyed the Movie

syedaamirmsd
Jun 3, 2008

Tabasco sauce

Sep 9, 2009

Simply terrible

agent59987774
Nov 28, 2008

Critics might be off the mark on this one...

May 3, 2008

Duff steals the show

stephengraley
May 20, 2008
Oct 20, 2008

A Mess by any other name is.................

bob-rutzel-1
Nov 10, 2008

funny movie + Hillary

Jul 11, 2013

Yikes! Pretty bad

edwardclinch
Jul 8, 2022

Where's Minnie?

Jan 11, 2009

Warrants a look, even though it doesn't quite hold together...thank you, John Cusack, for the many wonderful ideas and lines!

Jul 27, 2008

Disjointed storyline. No thrill, nor suspense. What a mess.

Jul 9, 2022

A hit-and-miss-21st Century "STRANGELOVE"

george.schmidt
May 26, 2008
Nov 27, 2008

A thoroughly entertaining film.

inspire_aspire
May 10, 2008

A satirical view of today...

Jun 9, 2008

Simply crap

Dec 17, 2010

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Movie Review: “War, Inc.”

Co-written by and starring John Cusack , “War, Inc.” has “passion project” stamped all over it. The film posits a near-future occupation of war-torn (and fictional) Turaqistan, where all core government functions have been outsourced to multinational corporation Tamerlane. Cusack’s Brand Hauser is an assassin hired by Tamerlane to kill a kindly, libidinous government official. Cue existential crisis.

Inspired by Cusack’s reading of Naomi Klein’s seminal Iraq War piece “Baghdad: Year Zero,” the film deals with such ripped-from-the-headlines issues as war profiteering a la Halliburton and private corporate armies a la Blackwater. Shortly after arriving in Turaqistan, Hauser meets liberal reporter Natalie Hegalhuzen ( Marisa Tomei ), and she catalyses his growing unease with his occupation. He then grows even more uncomfortable (in ways that he can’t understand at first – but boy do they come into focus later) when he meets Central Asia pop star Yonica Babyyeah ( Hilary Duff ), who is set to be married during a Turaqistan trade show.

Though the film also features gleeful scenery chewing from Ben Kingsley as a CIA man with a warped Texas accent, it is Duff that nearly steals the entire film with her sexed-out portrayal of the petulant, vulnerable Yonica. All credit to Duff for playing so far against type and for taking (and nailing) this difficult role. All credit to Cusack et al. for casting her.

Ultimately, this satirical exposé of a film is anything but far-fetched. The issues raised in “War, Inc.” will not surprise anyone who has watched CNN or the evening news on a semi-regular basis. Yet it is the over-the-top soap opera plot and pitch-black comic relief that separate the movie from just another portentous and obvious movie about post-“Mission Accomplished” Iraq.

3.5 / 5 Stars Starring: John Cusack, Joan Cusack, Marisa Tomei, Ben Kingsley, Hilary Duff Director: Joshua Seftel

Reviewed by Jonathan Flax

Don’t miss Jonathan’s interview with John Cusack .

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Movie Review | 'War, Inc.'

A Hit Man in a War Zone That Could Easily Be Iraq

By Stephen Holden

May 23, 2008

“War, Inc.” is gonzo moviemaking with a bleeding heart. A satirical farce that wants to be “Dr. Strangelove” for the age of terrorism, it is a zany, nihilistic free-for-all that goes soft.

Giving in to sentiment is an impulse to which Stanley Kubrick, the director of “Dr. Strangelove,” whose influence permeates “War, Inc.,” would never have succumbed. A prolonged battle scene set to the “Blue Danube” waltz is pure Kubrick, but it is executed by the director Joshua Seftel without the same icy sense of the absurd. Like much else in the movie, it seems merely derivative.

What bracing misanthropy “War, Inc.” is able to conjure in its early scenes is sabotaged by the presence of the film’s prime mover, John Cusack, an actor who even when playing the ultimate cynic can’t keep from coming across as a misguided nice guy on the verge of seeing the light. Mr. Cusack, who also wrote the screenplay with Mark Leyner and Jeremy Pikser and is one of the film’s several producers, stars as Hauser, a samurai-style hit man dispatched to the Middle East in the near future on an assassination mission.

Playing a classic lone gunman and kung fu master with a deadly glint in his eyes while Morricone-style cowboy music twangs in the background, Mr. Cusack still looks and sounds like a softy. His destination is the Emerald City (read the Green Zone) in the fictional Turaqistan (read Iraq), a country occupied by Tamerlane (read Halliburton), a corporation run by an unnamed former vice president of the United States (Dan Aykroyd, doing a dead-on parody of Dick Cheney).

Snarling out of one corner of his mouth while sitting on a toilet, the vice president boasts that the continuing conflict between Tamerlane and insurgent forces is the first war ever outsourced to private enterprise. As a trade show begins, a chorus line of women with prosthetic legs dances. Their prostheses are Tamerlane products.

His aide, Marsha Dillon (Joan Cusack), is an enraged sourpuss who suggests an exponentially more disagreeable Mary Matalin. Ms. Cusack’s harshly funny portrayal, and the performances of Mr. Aykroyd and of Ben Kingsley as Walken, an evil puppetmaster and C.I.A. honcho, are the movie’s strongest because their characters don’t have souls. This being a satire, why should they?

Hauser’s assignment is to kill Omar Sharif (Lubomir Neikov), an upstart Middle Eastern oil minister who wants to build his own pipeline through Turaqistan, thwarting Tamerlane’s intention to corner the country’s natural resources. Outside the Emerald City, where Hauser occasionally ventures, Turaqistan appears to have been already reduced to rubble. But the battle rages on, and chaos reigns.

The cover story for Hauser’s visit is his job description as producer of the Brand USA Trade Show, whose centerpiece will be the wedding of Yonica Babyyeah (Hilary Duff), the Britney Spears of Central Asia. Ms. Duff breaks out of her everygirl persona to play this spoiled, squirming kohl-eyed vamp, who growls “I Want to Blow You Up” with every innuendo intact and travels with a posse of ersatz gangsters. Inside this predatory tramp, however, beats the heart of a lost little girl.

Hauser, the tough guy who swigs shots of hot sauce without shedding a tear, falls in love with Natalie Hegalhuzen (Marisa Tomei), a liberal journalist who shows up on the scene. When she is kidnapped and threatened with beheading after venturing outside the Emerald City, Hauser gets to play the hero.

You can sense the rage and disgust simmering behind “War, Inc.,” but they seldom reach a full boil. The movie is repeatedly sidetracked as it glimpses new satirical targets. A particularly distracting cause célèbre is a plan to market a pornographic video of Yonica’s wedding night.

The problem with gonzo moviemaking, in this case, is that nothing really adds up. What initially appears whimsical eventually seems sloppy. And when the bleeding heart kicks in, you feel betrayed.

“War, Inc.” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian) for violence, language and brief sexual material.

Opens on Friday in New York and Los Angeles.

Directed by Joshua Seftel; written by Mark Leyner, Jeremy Pikser and John Cusack; director of photography, Zoran Popovic; edited by Michael Berenbaum; music by David Robbins; production designer, Miljen (Kreka) Kljakovic; produced by Les Weldon, Danny Lerner, Mr. Cusack and Grace Loh; released by First Look Studios. In Manhattan at the Angelika Film Center, Mercer and Houston Streets, Greenwich Village. Running time: 1 hour 46 minutes.

WITH: John Cusack (Hauser), Hilary Duff (Yonica Babyyeah), Marisa Tomei (Natalie Hegalhuzen), Joan Cusack (Marsha Dillon), Ben Kingsley (Walken/the Viceroy), Lubomir Neikov (Omar Sharif) and Dan Aykroyd (Mr. Vice President) .

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COMMENTS

War is commerce by other means movie review (2008)
But the parts never come together. Cusack has made 56 films and is only 42 years old, and his quality control is uncanny. He shies away from unworthy projects and is always available to take a chance. A project like "War, Inc." must not have been easy to finance, shows a determination to make a movie that makes a statement and is honorable.
War, Inc.
May 7, 2020 Full Review Ben Kenigsberg Time Out Rated: 2/5 Nov 18, 2011 Full Review Joanne Laurier World Socialist Web Site At its best, War, Inc. reaches the level of a biting-and courageous ...
War, Inc.
War, Inc. squanders some top-tier talent (Marisa Tomei, Sir Ben Kingsley) as well as our patience. Full Review | Oct 18, 2008 Chris Hewitt St. Paul Pioneer Press
War, Inc. Reviews
War, Inc. is a political satire set in Turaqistan, a country occupied by an American private corporation run by a former U.S. Vice President. In an effort to monopolize the opportunities the warn-torn nation offers, the corporations CEO hires Hauser , a hit man, to kill a Middle Eastern oil minister. Now, struggling with his own growing demons, the assassin must pose as the corporation's ...
War, Inc. (2008)
War, Inc.: Directed by Joshua Seftel. With John Cusack, Hilary Duff, Marisa Tomei, Joan Cusack. A corporation hires a professional assassin to pose as its trade show representative who must organize the wedding of a Middle Eastern pop star, which will allow him the opportunity to kill a Middle Eastern politician.
War, Inc. (2008)
Don't mistake "War Inc." for a sharply chiseled satire or a brainy comedy full of inside jokes for news buffs. It isn't. This is an old-fashioned screwball comedy, with ridiculously coincidental plot twists, stock characters (given some depth in fun performances by John Cusack, Joan Cusack, Marisa Tomei and Hillary Duff) and a straightforward approach to the political content.
War, Inc. Review
Grosse Point Blank was one of those seminal experiences I enjoyed during my college years, a celebration of all that was cool and clever and intelligent and earnest about movies at the time, and ...
War, Inc.
War, Inc. received generally negative reviews from critics. ... War, Inc. was planned to have a fast DVD release date of July 1, [12] but was delayed three months to maximize the impact of the theatrical release. [13] The film was released later on DVD on October 14, 2008 in the US and acquired $883,364 in the opening weekend, selling 60,534 ...
Movie Review: "War, Inc."
The issues raised in "War, Inc." will not surprise anyone who has watched CNN or the evening news on a semi-regular basis. Yet it is the over-the-top soap opera plot and pitch-black comic relief that separate the movie from just another portentous and obvious movie about post-"Mission Accomplished" Iraq. 3.5 / 5 Stars
A Hit Man in a War Zone That Could Easily Be Iraq
"War, Inc." is gonzo moviemaking with a bleeding heart. A satirical farce that wants to be "Dr. Strangelove" for the age of terrorism, it is a zany, nihilistic free-for-all that goes soft.