- War, Inc.
Infobox Film
name = War, Inc.
caption =
director =Joshua Seftel
producer =John Cusack
Danny Lerner
Grace Loh
Les Weldon
writer = John CusackMark Leyner
Jeremy Pikser
starring =John Cusack Hilary Duff Marisa Tomei Joan Cusack Dan Aykroyd Ben Kingsley
distributor =
released =May 23 ,2008 (USA)April 25 ,2008 (Canada)April 28 ,2008 (Tribeca Film Festival )
rating =R
Status = Awaiting Release
runtime =
country = flagicon|USAUnited States
awards =
language = English
budget = $5,000,000
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0884224"War, Inc." is a dark
political satire film starringJohn Cusack andHilary Duff and directed byJoshua Seftel . Cusack also co-wrote and produced the film. A working title of the film was "Brand Hauser: Stuff Happens". The story is partly inspired byNaomi Klein 's article "Baghdad Year Zero". [ [http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,,2159038,00.html 'I'm basically a brand' | Interviews | Guardian Unlimited Film ] ] [cite web|url=http://www.harpers.org/BaghdadYearZero.html |title=Baghdad year zero: Pillaging Iraq in pursuit of a neocon utopia |authorlast=Klein |authorfirst=Naomi |year=2004 |month=September |work=Harper's Magazine |publisher=The Harper's Magazine Foundation |accessdate=2008-06-19]"War, Inc." is thought to be a
spiritual successor orinformal sequel to the 1997 film "Grosse Pointe Blank ". Both films are black comedies with similar styles and themes, and both films star John Cusack as an assassin and Joan Cusack as his assistant, withDan Aykroyd in a supporting role. In an interview, Joan Cusack said, "I think, in a way, ["War, Inc."] was a "Grosse Point Blank 2"." [Jen Yamato, [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/war_inc/news/1730094/rt_interview_joan_cusack_on_war_inc_the_unofficial_sequel_to_grosse_point_blank "RT Interview: Joan Cusack on War, Inc., the Unofficial Sequel to Grosse Point Blank"] , Rotten Tomatoes, May 22, 2008.]Production
. [Boxofficemojo.com]
Plot
"War Inc." is set in the future, when the fictional desert country of Turaqistan is torn by a riot after a private corporation, Tamerlane (based on
Halliburton ), owned by the formerVice President of the United States (Dan Aykroyd , based onDick Cheney ), has taken over the whole country. Brand Hauser (John Cusack ), a hit man who suppresses his emotions by gobbling down hot sauce, is hired by the corporation's head to kill the CEO of their competitors. To do this, he has to have a cover-up which is in the form of a gala wedding by the outrageous Central Asian Superstar Yonica Babyyeah (Hilary Duff ). Everything changes when the ruthless killer finds himself head-over-heels in love with a sexy reporter Natalie Hegalhuzen (Marisa Tomei ).Cast
*
John Cusack - Brand Hauser
*Hilary Duff - Yonica Babyyeah
*Marisa Tomei - Natalie Hegalhuzen
*Ben Kingsley - Walken
*Joan Cusack - Marsha Dillon
*Dan Aykroyd - The Vice President
*Ben Cross - Medusa Hair
* Ned Bellamy - Zubleh / Ooq-Yu-Fay Taqnufmini
*Bashar Rahal -Video Guy One
* Sergej Trifunović - Ooq-Mi-Fay Taqnufmini
* Doug Dearth - Geoff
*Montel Williams - GuideStar
*John McLaughlin - HimselfCritical reception
"War, Inc." received generally negative reviews from critics. As of
May 24 , 2008, the review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes reported that 30% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 34 reviews — with the consensus that the film "attempts to satirize themilitary industrial complex , but more often than not it misses its target." [cite web|url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/war_inc/ |title=War, Inc. Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes |accessdate=2008-05-24 |publisher=Rotten Tomatoes ]Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 37 out of 100, based on 21 reviews. [cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/warinc |title=War, Inc. (2008): Reviews |accessdate=2008-05-24 |publisher=Metacritic ]Box office performance
"War, Inc." opened on an extremely
limited release in only two theatres across theUnited States onMay 23 ,2008 . It grossed an estimated $36,600 in those two theaters during its opening weekend. [cite web|url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=warinc.htm |title=War, Inc. (2008) - Weekend Box Office Results |accessdate=2008-05-26 |publisher=Box Office Mojo ] It was second in largest per theater gross behind "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ". The film closed onAugust 7 ,2008 after not seeing a wide release, grossing only $580,862 domestically in less than thirty theatres across theUnited States andCanada . It was then released in theatres onAugust 28 ,2008 inRussia ,October 2 ,2008 inIsrael ,October 20 ,2008 in Portugal.Promotion
Hilary Duff (Yonica Babyyeah) was the only cast member to do promotion for the film. This included interviews on "Ellen ", "TRL ", "Today", "Jimmy Kimmel " and "Regis and Kelly " through-outJune 2008 . All of the cast attended the premiere at theTribeca Film Festival barJohn Cusack .DVD Release
The film will be released on
Blu-ray and DVD on October 14, 2008 in theUnited States and it will be released on January 26, 2009 in the United Kingdom, September 10, 2008 in Italy and December 1, 2008 in Greece. [ [http://blogs.reuters.com/fanfare/2008/06/06/war-inc-strikes-box-office-nerve/ “War, Inc.” strikes box office nerve | Reuters.com. ] ]References
External links
* [http://www.firstlookstudios.com/films/warinc/ Official site]
*imdb title|id=0884224|title=War, Inc.
* [http://www.midnightmonkeymadness.com/?p=8 War, Inc. at Midnight Monkey Madness]
*rotten-tomatoes|id=war_inc|title=War, Inc.
*metacritic film|id=warinc|title=War, Inc.
*mojo title|id=warinc|title=War, Inc.
*amg movie|id=1:376925|title=War, Inc.
* [http://www.myspace.com/warincofficialsite "War, Inc."] atMySpace
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.