Movie Review: War Inc

War Inc (2008) 

Directed by Joshua Seftel

Written by John Cusack, Mark Leyner, Jeremy Pikser

Starring John Cusack, Hillary Duff, Marisa Tomei, Dan Akroyd

Release Date May 23rd, 2008

Published November 12th, 2008

Mention the plot of War, Inc. and inevitably people flash back to the cult classic Grosse Point Blank. That was the last time that John Cusack played a black clad hetmans who is re-humanized by falling in love. War, Inc. finds Cusack once again as a black clad hit man, cold blooded when we meet him but neurotic enough that a good woman could straighten him out and make him  a better man. So why does Grosse Point Blank work so very well and War, Inc. fail? Read on dear reader.

In War, Inc. John Cusack plays Brand Hauser, a hit man on hire by corporations for military assassinations. You see, in this future world there are no more countries or states of power, only corporations with their own agendas and military arms. One of these unnamed corporations is run by a former Vice President (Dan Akroyd) who looks strangely familiar with his thinning white hair and sailor talk.

The former VP has hired Brand to go to one of the -Istan countries where war has brought peace and hardcore capitalism, at least within the safety of the countries largest city. Outside that safe zone the strife and death is rather horrifying. Brand is sent in to kill a leader of a different country who wants to build an oil pipeline without the aid of the corporation.

Brand's cover is that he is a producer behind a huge international trade show meant to show the world the importance of capitalism and corporate branding. The signature event of the show will be a western style marriage for the countries top pop star Yonica Babyyeah (Hillary Duff). Hauser is to kill his target and make sure the wedding comes off without a hitch, but why does the pop star freak him out so much?

Meanwhile, Hauser becomes infatuated with a crusading journalist who wants to expose what is happening beyond the safety of the so called Emerald Zone. She is Natalie (Marisa Tomei) and though she suspects Hauser is just playing her off to keep her from writing what she wants she eventually see's the wounded man-child he truly is, as well as his darker side.

War, Inc. is the brainchild of writers Mark Leyner and Jeremy Pikser and director Joshua Seftel who envision a future not entirely unlike the imaginings of a William Gibson or Phillip K. Dick. The movie has all of the paranoia and subtext of classic sci fi without the actual sci-fi. It's a deeply cynical, dyspeptic take on our current government and it's approach to the middle east without the subtlety that made Gibson or Dick so brilliant.

All of the punches thrown by War, Inc. in the direction of the Bush Administration foreign policy are obvious and relatively unfunny. Even if you agree that corporate greed and our current foreign policy are scary, the shots taken at them in War, Inc. are too obvious and heavy handed to draw anything more than a smile of recognition. 

John Cusack is both a clear choice for this role and a strange one. He fits the role like a glove but it's because he's played it before and far better than this. What is there to differentiate this hit man from his Grosse Point Blank hit man? A name? They have the same philosophy, killing without the interference of state or ideology.

They have the same neuroses as well, Martin deals with his in therapy, Brand with long talks with his On Star rep in his Humvee. Brand does have the quirk of drinking hot sauce but most of the major differences don't work in this movies favor. Where Grosse Point Blank was sly and stylish with a kickass soundtrack, War, Inc. is lumbering, predictable and heavy-handed.

War, Inc. wants to be edgy, violent satire. Instead we get a cynical, predictable trip through the muck of a muddy satire taking obvious shots at broad as a barn topics and missing as often as it hits. John Cusack remains a charismatic presence and Hillary Duff has never been this good but they are lost and adrift in this smug, wannabe satire.

Why rent this John Cusack hit man movie when you could get Grosse Point Blank?