This Means War Reviews

Not so long ago, I saw '3 Days to Kill' and since this movie was the last one directed by McG that I hadn't watch so far, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even if it had slightly more potential than '3 Days to Kill', it wasn't really much better, I'm afraid. I mean, in fact, there was barely anything that really did work with this movie. First of all, it was really hard to believe that a girl like Reese Witherspoon would need a dating site to find a guy. Then, I felt really sorry for Tom Hardy, one of the most talented actors of his generation, who seemed completely lost here (he himself admitted that he really regretted taking part in this movie). At least, Chris Pine did manage to find the right tone but it was certainly not enough to save this movie. I mean, it was more messed up than entertaining to see this girl dating 2 guys at the same time. And what about the fact that these 2 spies had decided to put all their agency's resources to actually spy on this girl? On top of that, to make things worse, she eventually chose the least worthy of them at the end. Anyway, to conclude, it was a rather misguided premise which was on top of that poorly executed so I don't think it is really worth a look at all.

This Means War is pretty much what you'd expect from a movie that came out on Valentine's day. At least it's not a Nicholas Sparks movie. I wouldn't consider this as an option for a date movie, there are better choices out there but, if you're looking to pass the time you could do worse I guess.

This Means War is an action romantic comedy, at least that's what the marketing leads you to believe. It fails at all three. I guess comedy wins, but don't expect to be rolling on the floor and laughing your ass off. I will admit though, Chelsea Handler made me laugh a few times and was one of the best things about the movie. They should have expanded her role, it would have made a difference. Supposely they had to remove a few lines from her in order to bring the rating from an R to PG-13. If those lines were as funny as the ones she said now, then they're morons for doing it.

The action in this movie is nothing special and barely gets the pulse pounding. The romance is equally as dull and the heat between the relationships barely gets up to room temperature. Chris Pines and Reese Witherspoon have some sexual attraction but that's as far as it goes. The relationship between Tom Hardy and Reese Witherspoon comes of as the close friends variety. The chemistry between Chris Pines and Tom Hardy is lame. I didn't buy them as close friends or anything, which is a shame because the movie desperately needed something like that.

When seeing Chris Pine and Tom Hardy, one would think Tom Hardy would be the asshole but it's Chris Pines who's the real asshole here and he ups it up from Star Trek. The performances aren't that great with the exception of Chelsea Handler which is shocking considering the talent. It's clear they were hired for their pretty faces than they're acting which, I don't understand because these three can act. If you wanted to do that they why not get people like Taylor Launter? Instead of wasting the talents of these three.

The ending is so predictable and cute that it almost made me go into sugar shock. Everyone wins at the end which made this whole movie seem pointless. I know I've been bashing this movie a lot, but there were things I enjoyed. There is some fun to be had especially when the two guys constantly try to ruin each others dates. There's also a funny and clever little scene where Pine and Hardy are in Witherspoon's apartment planting cameras throughout the house in stealth mode while she's there.

Overall, this is nothing new that you haven't seen before. It attemps to be funny, and romantic, with some action on the side with only moderate sucess. The action isn't exciting, the romance is dull, and while I did laugh a few times most of the jokes fell flat and didn't work. There is some fun to be had, but the movie water the talents of it's cast. I wouldn't recommend this for a date movie or anything, only if you have nothing to do then this isn't such a bad option.

You may have seen trailers for this terrible-looking romantic comedy about two CIA agents who fight over the same girl. My friend and I attended an advance screening with the expectation that I would hate the movie.

We loved it.

The movie was a delight from start to finish. It was gorgeous, for one thing, and I am not just talking about the actors, although they're gorgeous, too. The cinematography is splendid.

Furthermore, the characters were actually multi-dimensional, including Lauren Scott (Reese Witherspoon), the woman in question. Far from being a trophy, she was smart, competent, and talented, and she had her own issues to work out and her own lessons to learn about love. Although the movie was undeniably more about the men than it was about her, I didn't feel like she was just there to motivate them, which is always a danger in this type of romantic comedy.

The theme of the movie was communicated through her as well as through the men—which brings me to my next point: the movie actually had themes and character development. I typically expect only to be entertained by a comedy, not to be impressed in any intellectual way, but in addition to being nonstop hilarious and occasionally moving, this one was all over proper writing technique.

My friend and I ended up being completely in love with it, and we cannot wait for the official release so that we can share it with all of our other friends and see it again ourselves.

Yes, young people like myself will enjoy this movie, but it's also targeted for late twenties-late thirties people thinking about love and marriage. I saw a lot of older couples at the theaters and they were enjoying it just as much—they were laughing loudest, in fact! I'd give this movie a 9/10. Pure enjoyment.

So my issue: WTF Critics? You give this movie zero credit. Is it because of the actors? They're all great actors. Plot? Actually pretty good—somewhat predictable in hindsight but I'd still watch the movie again. Director? Supernatural and Nikita both have a fanbase, and aren't that bad with action or drama. If they actually watched the movies they wouldn't have rated it that low; I think they were going off plot summary. Back off, critics! When more people see this movie the ratings will go up! Rotten tomatoes said audience enjoyed it 71% so far, but opening day isn't even over yet. Critics give it 33%? Come on.

The severe problem with This Means War isn't the fact that it's highly predictable; it's the reason why it's highly predictable. You see, the film has a horribly narrow-minded, black-and-white view of what men and women want from each other in relationships. I saw everything coming in This Means War, not because I knew how things usually unfold in this type of movie, but worse, because its detestably sexist views on romantic dynamics made it incredibly easy to anticipate every dim-witted word and action on the characters' parts. Add to that the fact that it's got very few laughs, and that the action sequences are few and poorly put-together, and you've got a prime example of a good cast wasted on a deeply mediocre film.

FDR (Chris Pine) and Tuck (Tom Hardy) are supposed to be secret agents, except that it seems like any time they go on any mission, they make a mess out of everything and their cover gets blown. So, they're "punished" by getting assigned to boring office work. The early dialogue between both dudes helpfully clues us into the fact that FDR is a ladies' man while Tuck has a hard time meeting women. The latter seems to catch a break when he gets on an online dating site through which he meets Lauren (Reese Witherspoon), one of those good-looking, wholesome and hard-working women who are only single in the movies. Tuck and Lauren go on a first date in which I didn't see any sparks fly, but the film apparently thinks otherwise, so at that point, I'm thinking "Fine, I'll go along with it, as long as we see some solid chemistry later on." The date ends on a positive note, with Lauren saying she's heading off to "rent a movie," which immediately sparked my curiosity, because this isn't something we'd usually hear the stereotypical "single girl" in a romcom say. Of course, it's just a contrivance to have Lauren enter a video store where she happens to meet FDR, who isn't aware that this is the girl his buddy just went out with, and of course, he immediately starts working all of his charms on her. Things get complicated once the two guys realize they're both dating the same girl and they decide to keep doing it without letting her know the two guys know each other, until she makes a decision as to who she wants to be with.

If you've seen the trailer, you already know that each guy starts exploiting his access to spy technology in order to surveil Lauren and to sabotage her dates with the other guy. It's a shame, though, that if you've seen the trailer you've basically seen everything the two guys do with said technology, so you're already aware of how depressingly uncreative and unfunny it is. One guy causes the sprinklers to go off in the house while Lauren is kissing the other guy. One guy causes Lauren's paintball gun to go off and hit the other guy in the balls. One guy shoots the other guy with a dart in order to get him to fall asleep during a date. Not a single laugh, not an ounce of originality or excitement. The lack of excitement is of particular importance to you fans of action movies who saw the title and are hoping maybe there's a subplot in which the two guys, in their roles as agents, get to kick a lot of ass and engage in fun fight or shoot-out sequences - you'll be sorely disappointed. Most of the action on the film happens in the opening sequence, which is as annoying and poorly-edited an action sequence as they come. There's a totally useless subplot involving a bad guy whom the guys are supposed to be tracking down, but it never materializes into anything of interest.

Of course, seeing as the film chooses to eschew the action and focus more on the love triangle, you'd figure the romantic dynamics would offer something substantial, or at the very least, an iota of humor, but that's largely not the case in This Means War. This film is another in the long list of Hollywood romantic comedies that feature female characters with dastardly reprehensible views on love and relationships, and to make matters worse, that makes Lauren nothing but a ridiculously predictable automaton. At one point, when she feels frustrated and she feels that she needs to decide which guy to be with, she suddenly sees the light and declares that she's gonna do "what any rational woman would do" in this situation. At that point, I knew exactly what Lauren was going to say next, not because it has any ring of truth to it (which it doesn't), not even because it's predictable in the context of a romantic comedy, but because the film had already painted her as a caricature who's been designed to say and do the things that Hollywood knows its audiences want to hear women say and do in films, regardless of how reprehensible they may be. Oh, and obviously, Lauren is never held accountable (by her two suitors or by the film) for dating two guys at once. If you think Lauren sounds bad enough on her own, I haven't even talked about her obligatory sex-crazed best friend, Trish (Chelsea Handler, not nearly as funny here as she is on the small screen). We've seen this "best friend" in romantic comedies before, but rarely are they as unfunny, useless and screechingly annoying as Trish.

There are plenty of movies out there that have similar flaws in terms of storytelling and character development, yet I've still ended up recommending them because the script has a decent amount of one-liners that have kept me laughing and/or engaged. But the dialogue in This Means War is incredibly flat. The moments of reprieve from said flatness are very few: there's a scene in which the banter related to Internet abbreviations (like "LMFAO") made me at least laugh (though not my ass off), and in the scene during which FDR and Lauren meet at the video store, the two have a funny exchange regarding Alfred Hitchcock's filmography. Come to think of it, these two moments of reprieve I just mentioned are courtesy of Chris Pine, who is easily much better and much more charming than the film's other two leads. Tom Hardy and Reese Witherspoon look as though they're in it strictly for the paychecks. Chelsea Handler does nothing other than look constipated while delivering dialogue that is either mean-spirited or sexually charged, but never humorous.

This Means War is a weak cinematic entry because it falls flat on its face as an action movie, and stumbles quite poorly as a romantic comedy. In this day and age of great special effects, I'm surprised that the makers of a film about two spies couldn't even think of more interesting and original things aside from surveillance cameras and the other cheap gags that we get here. But what really hurts the movie is that it handles the romantic aspect without any comedic bite and that the film's detestably misguided notions on relationships eventually make it depressingly predictable. Oh, and in case you're hoping to at least feel a sense of mystery or suspense as to "Who will she choose?", you should know that her choice is completely obvious from the beginning, seeing as during the first 20 minutes, there's a subplot involving one of the guys which totally telegraphs the film's resolution. And while I could certainly at least give This Means War some credit for having the girl choose the guy with whom she obviously had more chemistry, I think that'd be overstating things just a bit, considering that the romantic chemistry in this movie is beyond feeble.

4/10