This Means War (2012)

Don't Believe the Hype

Best movie of this year hands down!

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

I liked it, it was fun to watch for one night, it was funny and well-played. I definetly recommend the movie if You'd like to relax next to a bottle of wine

Ok ok, I take that back...slightly too harsh but I've got my point across in one simple powerful sentence. A select few comedies can embed action perfectly to create an entertaining piece of cinema. This, well...yeah no. A young woman seeking love happens to start dating two guys, unfortunately for them they are best friends and work colleagues. They battle each other through the use of creative dates, basic wooing and the occasional fist fight. In conjunction to this, a villainous villain is busy being a villain by seeking vengeance for his brother's death...in a villainous way. The love triangle and CIA subplot really do not blend, the only similarities it details is that the two guys are colleagues. Great. Needed that information. The action sequences were shot well with both Tom Hardy and Chris Pine suitable for their roles, but it's just not exhilarating at all. It's fluff, a big ball of Reese Witherspoon belly button fluff that she occasional fiddles with whenever she desires to do a mediocre romantic comedy. Hardy is "oh hello, gosh, I'm British and I love a good cup of tea. Let's drink and reminisce over good times love? whereas Pine is "hey...yeah, I'm cool...love women, know everything about them". Hilariously stereotypical for all the wrong reasons. All three lead actors give excellent performances given the bland and unfunny script. Their personalities are portrayed which does make this strangely watchable (heck, I've watched it a good few times). It's just not intelligent or funny enough to be classed as good. Neither Hardy, Pine or Witherspoon's finest hour and a half...! Plus, her final choice was just wrong...I mean come on, it's clear the other viable candidate was far nicer!

Initially when I saw the poster i thought it would be worth watching, after all look at the big 3 cast members; Reese Witherspoon has won an Oscar and Tom Hardy is the man that portrayed the bane character better than I could have thought possible.What a disappointment, that's all I could piece together after watching this flop of a romantic comedy trying and failing to be an action.The story follows two elite CIA agents FDR (Chris Pine) and Tuck (Tom Hardy) after they are grounded for failing a mission in Hong Kong. Back on US soil the two fall for the same girl, Enter Lauren (Reese Witherspoon). They enter a gentleman's agreement to see who can steal Laurens heart. However the rules go out the window and the last thing on the men's mind is being gentlemanly. They implore their CIA skills on one another in a 'whatever it takes to get the girl' mentality. In her defence Reese played the role rather well however the two lead males left much wanting. The storyline is predictable with few laughs along the way which is why they have tried to shove obscenely designed action scenes down your throat to make you forget about the comedy you were promised but are still waiting for. It was a very bland, predictable film which has you checking your watch hoping, praying that it will end soon. I recommend next time you're at the video store just keep on walking and don't look back when you see this title. Mr Unimpressed remains very much unimpressed.

(9%) Three big name stars take more than a couple of steps back in terms of respect as human beings to earn their pay-cheques in this lousy, everything wrong with mainstream Hollywood garbage. I remember this being out in cinemas at a time when my local multiplex had a hugely discounted offer meaning it was actually cheaper to see a new film such as this on the big screen than it was to rent a 4-9 month old one for the small screen at home. And to be honest I'm glad I paid a visit to Blockbuster (R.I.P) and walked out with less change in my pocket than pay a little less to sit through this trash. Chris Pine's character could have been played by almost anyone, Tom Hardy has the look of a man who knows without doubt that he's wasting his time, and Reese Witherspoon's lines largely amount to "oh my god!" over and over again. It's all a bit like watching clearly talented people all huddled around a dirty side-street giggling to themselves as they poke at road kill with a stick, only McG's there too dribbling onto himself while standing next to a sack of rotting dog corpses with his penis hanging out. This is a terrible, head thumpingly bad movie, with an awful half-arsed script, phoned-in performances, overblown and very fake looking action, and one of the worst unfunny bum note endings ever to land on a movie producer's desk.