This Means War
- Starring: Reese Witherspoon (Legally Blonde), Chris Pine (Star Trek), and Tom Hardy (Warrior)
- Directed by: McG
- Synopsis: “The world’s deadliest CIA operatives are inseparable partners and best friends until they fall for the same woman. Having once helped bring down entire enemy nations, they are now employing their incomparable skills and an endless array of high-tech gadgetry against their greatest nemesis ever – each other.” (collider)
- Rated: PG-13 for some sexual content and language (originally rated R)
- Trailer:
Bugs Bunny said it best: “Of course you realize, this means war!”
Who would’ve guessed that introducing Elle Woods from Legally Blonde, Captain James T. Kirk from 2009’s Star Trek, and Eames from Inception together would have amounted to a fun film such as this? Apparently, director McG (Terminator Salvation, Charlie’s Angels, NBC’s Chuck) did and he did it in a fun way.
Starting off with a bang…literally, This Means War starts off with all the excitement and promise of a James Bond/Mission Impossible film with the two best friends and partners Tuck (Hardy) and FDR (Pine) dressed in standard Bond-issue tuxedos and brandishing side-arms that seem to never miss their mark. Confident and unaccustomed to being bested by any enemy, these two are suddenly stopped in their tracks when one Lauren S. (Witherspoon) enters the picture.
Lauren: Single and successful. Gorgeous and looking for “Mr. Right.” She ends up dating both of them without knowledge of their connection to each other…and without their knowledge of the other man’s involvement. But spies being spies…information begins to leak and thus the movie’s main plot is born.
Ah, the classic “Spy vs. Spy!” Impressively, both Tuck and FDR utilize all of their training, skills, and resources in hilarious recon, seek and destroy missions, and infiltration/covert outings…only each of their respective focuses are on the moves of the other spy and Lauren under the pretense of national security.
Paintball battles, first date “firsts”, and bad advice-giving friends, surround this hilariously unintentional love triangle of a film but it is loads of fun once you get past the beginning and get straight to the story that counts. This film tries to implement too much with an unnecessary story line of a dangerous international villain that remains on the C.I.A’s top bad guy list. Consequently, feeling the need to tie the film together in this manner, This Means War suffers and goes from being a semi-believable fun rom-com action type film to a “Nope, that would never happen” kind of a film.
BUT…it’s still fun and not all that bad. You will laugh quite a bit. And Chris Pine and Tom Hardy really work well together on screen and make up for the sub-par aspects of this post-Valentine’s Day fun flick. I look forward to more films starring these two Hollywood stars.
(According to IMDB Bradley Cooper James Franco Sam Worthington, Colin Farrell, Justin Timberlake and Seth Rogen all were either considered for or offered the lead roles, but the roles eventually went to Chris Pine and Tom Hardy. A very wise choice.)
Predictable to the very end. I’ll be interested in if you can pick who gets the girl in the end?
This Means War: An action-filled romantic comedy full of over the top action, beautiful people, and enjoyable laughs. Girls will love it, guys will like it (don’t worry guys, it’s okay to be dragged to this one!) 😀
Thanks for reading! Happy Watching!
Score: 2.5 out of 5 stars for This Means War
–T, The Focused Filmographer
Thanks for the heads up on this one, T. Good review.
LikeLike
thank YOU sir. It was enjoyable to say the least. a good date movie.
LikeLike
Cool review T. Glad it wasn’t awful, I was beginning to have my doubts, I guess there were reshoots which is sometimes a bad sign & some of the clips were not too funny so i’m gladd you liked it. I’m severely behind on all my moviegoing so i hope this one gets one more weekend. I like both the actors but in the end i voted for Bane LOL
LikeLike
Thanks Paula. Highly entertaining this one. so many movies to be catching up on, I know how you feel.
LikeLike
Love the review T as always. I am seeing this next week but we have a review in from Teri who went to a press screening of it last week. She was a bit less taken by it than you.
Thanks dude, Have a good weekend
LikeLike
thanks for the compliment my friend. I look forward to swooping in on FRC and reading Teri’s review.
I trust your weekend is great as well.
LikeLike
I’m really relieved it wasn’t horrendous. I used to be a big fan of Reese, but that’s waned big time. Tom Hardy’s the draw for me here. I can deal with it being a fun, if a little over the top. Cheers!
LikeLike
far from horrendous!
I feel the same about Reese. Haven’t been thrilled about too much from here lately. You will enjoy Tom Hardy though. Who knew he could be so funny?
LikeLike
I like your poll, T, nice touch! Well you could guess which one I voted for 🙂 I’ll rent this to see more of the inverted bromance of sort between Pine and Hardy, surely they have more chemistry w/ each other than each w/ Reese.
LikeLike
Thanks so much! Pine and Hardy really had a good “Bromance” going on!
LikeLike
Cool man, cool. Glad we see eye to eye on this! I was pretty surprised how funny I found it. When I left I was like, wow, so I guess I’m going to have to say I liked it…
2.5 is about right, I’ll probably lambscore it a 3.
Glad I wasn’t the only one!
LikeLike
Hooray! We see eye to eye once again.
I was impressed with how I enjoyed it despite the obvious flaws. A fun flick for sure!
Oh, and on the lamb…I’m prepping for it, Promise. Just been incredibly unbelievably busy these last few days!
LikeLike
Good review T, seems like something that is watchable enough but totally forgettable. Might be worth a low priority rental down the road 😉
LikeLike
appreciate the comment. it is rather enjoyable. a whole lot more than expected, that’s for sure!
LikeLike
The fact that it was really funny and Pine & Hardy worked so well together, definitely made up for the subpar aspects as you stated. I felt like I should have given it a lower grade, but in the end I actually found it cute and fun to watch. Great review as always! 🙂
LikeLike
I am just glad I still was able to enjoy this for what it was. There were several moments I laughed out loud.
LikeLike
I laughed out loud too! Lol…and left the theatre smiling. So if nothing else, it was definitely an enjoyable movie to watch.
LikeLike
quite enjoyable indeed. I always appreciate you stopping in and commenting. Thanks Taj!
LikeLike
Well, so far I read more positive reviews than a bad one for this movie. I might check it out this weekend. Or probably check it out in DVD. Almost confused to pick either this or The Vow, but then The Artist came and others just disappeared 🙂 Thanks for sharing this
LikeLike
It’s a fun flick. I laughed more than I expected to. Expect little and Enjoy a Lot.
LikeLike