Second Opinion – War on Everyone (2016)

War on Everyone, 2016.

Written and Directed by John Michael McDonaugh
Starring Michael Pena, Alexander Skarsgard, Tessa Thompson, Stephanie Stigman, Caleb Landry Jones and Theo James.

SYNOPSIS:

Two corrupt cops in New Mexico set out to blackmail and frame every criminal unfortunate enough to cross their path. Things take a sinister turn, however, when they try to intimidate someone who is more dangerous than they are. Or is he?

About halfway through the new film from the brilliant John Michael McDonough, there is a sequence that leads our intrepid but hugely corrupt police detective partners Bob Balano (Michael Pena) and Terry Monroe (Alexander Skarsgård) to Iceland of all places, trying desperately to track down a perp who has escaped their clutches. They eventually find said criminal but do it in such a way that manages to be both hilarious and offensive and all in one moment. Queue unbridled laughter. Welcome to War on Everyone.

McDonough, having made The Guard and Calvary to much acclaim, has perhaps produced his best work here, reaching the apex in terms of both writing and direction combining the give us not just the best comedy of the year but also one of the very best period. With punchy, almost anarchic dialogue in terms of is blackness, War has the feel of his previous work while adding in influences like Midnight Run and Shane Black’s best to create a true classic of the sub-genre and one which – with this and Black’s own The Nice Guys – has been given a welcome shot in the arm. His direction to is fast and ferocious as Pena and Skarsgård go about their business while the camera whizzes around to give it a decidedly French Connection feel.

Then there’s his dynamic duo, the core of any memorable buddy cop movie and here he has lucked up with his leads. Skarsgård, fresh from his muscle-bound, scantily-clad turn as Tarzan that had many salivating, gives the best performance of his career finally unleashing his obvious talents while showcasing a wonderful comic timing. Pena meanwhile continues where Ant-Man left of with another whip-crack crackerjack comic performance that may be the best he’s done. Together, with its acerbic dialogue and McDonough’s assured hand behind them, are superb beautifully feeding off each other but never trying to top one another’s comic moments, the true “magic” to making such partnerships soar. Aided by always fantastic Tessa Thompson, it’s the kind of duo you want to see more and more of.

Even Theo James, teen heartthrob for many after Divergent, is suitably slimy and menacing as the villain of the piece, with his big-bad harking back to that of a classic 80’s villa that would normally have gone up against the Schwarzenegger’s and Stallone’s of the world.

It’s really and truly hard to find fault with the film as everything it wants to be and do is achieved superbly and to the quality we have come to expect from McDonough’s unique and absorbing voice. A few bum jokes here and there do nothing to derail War on Everyone, of the 2016’s most enjoyable and brilliant films.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Scott J. Davis