Originally published October 9, 2016. Updated April 16, 2018.
War on Everyone, 2016.
Directed by John Michael McDonagh.
Starring Michael Pena, Alexander Skarsgard, Theo James, Tessa Thompson, Stephanie Sigman, Caleb Landry Jones, Malcolm Barrett, David Wilmot and Paul Reiser.
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?
John Michael McDonagh’s third directorial effort following The Guard and Calvary is deliciously dark, hilarious, ludicrous and great fun. Headed up with two great comedic performances from Michael Pena and Alexander Skarsgard, War on Everyone isn’t to everyone’s taste but those who love McDonagh’s style will appreciate this offbeat comedy.
Bob (Pena) and Terry (Skarsgard) are the worst cops imaginable. Based down in New Mexico, they take bribes, do drugs, beat the crap out of people – or as Terry says “let’s go fuck some scumbags” – and basically frame everyone they meet. Things take a sinister turn when they come up against intimidating Brit mastermind James Mangan (James) who might be too powerful for them. The plot is convoluted and not all the jokes work, but the journey you go on with these two awful characters is hugely entertaining.
Michael Pena is perfect as family man Bob. He’s vulgar, despicable yet still loveable and he delivers some great one liners. Redeeming himself after a lacklustre performance in The Legend of Tarzan, Skarsgard proves to be a quality comedic actor from pratfalls through to expertly delivered quips. Terry is an alcoholic overgrown man child who loves Glenn Campbell and violence. There isn’t a lot of depth to these characters and anyone who wants to find out why they hate everyone will be disappointed. Terry gets some back story and has a bit of development towards the end of the film, but mainly it’s two guys working through a convoluted and razor sharp script.
Stellar support is provided by McDonagh regular David Wilmot as the perpetually unlucky and hilarious shell suit wearing Padraic Power. As with so many films the villain James Mangan is completely one dimensional but Theo James excels in the role and his delight in cutting someone’s head off with a samurai sword is fantastic.
War on Everyone is more juvenile than McDonagh’s previous films but it delivers a ton of laughs and he’s pulled out two terrific performances from his lead actors.
Flickering Myth Rating: Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Helen Murdoch
