The War Boys (2009)

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

This movie is a coming of age tale of 3 young men who are thee same but very different. Living in a border town does things to you and the acting in this movie portrays exactly what life in the desert is like from a modern perspective. The plot is rather ill defined and apparently some people are unable to find meaning in it. But for me, I understand the complex nature of this screenplay. The Director did a great job putting a time line on what has happened. My hat is off to the entire cast and staff for making this movie interesting and memorable. I enjoy a movie where I have to think and this one just presented the characters in a slice of time with little else to go on. Very Brave, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

I agree with the poster who said a 4-hour miniseries would have been better. There are several issues addressed in this film, but the runtime precludes developing and bringing each issue to culmination.Having said that, there were indeed some great segments: of course, the boys discovering what was really in the stolen truck tops the list (actually, from that scene to the end of the movie). While the loss of virginity scenes (gay and non-gay) were excellent, for me the true highlight was elsewhere: the hands giving presents through the hole in the wall. Second would be George sitting on the stoop, talking to his sister. The father-son "fag" scene is another nice nugget.Watch the movie. Just understand that too much is attempted in too small of a time.

THE WAR BOYS is a low budget, small film by first time director Ron Daniels and written by relative newcomers Naomi Wallace and Bruce McLeod that puts more conflicts before the audience than most hyped Hollywood movies. Where this little film succeeds is in its ability to present the bumps in the lives of young men struggling with the conflict of stepping out of the familial heritage into a world of unknowns. Populated by a very strong cast of young actors, THE WAR BOYS takes us to places other films have feared to go and does so very well. The location of the film is a small town somewhere near the border between the US and Mexico. The War Boys is the name of a group of lads who in highschool worked their own kind of border patrol, finding illegals and chasing them. Among this triad are Hispanic but American born Grigorio (Victor Rasuk) who joins the action to escape the derision by his classmates as a 'beaner', David (Benjamin Walker) whose father Slater (David Gallagher) has money and has sent David off to Duke University to become a lawyer, and George (Brian J. Smith) an insecure lad whose father is a cab driver and whose mother is supportive (their family also includes a young Mexican girl named 'Cat' (Cheyenne Serano) who runs about the little town dressed as Zorro, acting tough but really in need of love from her new brother George. David is home from college on a spring break (he actually was suspended for stripping nude in one of his classes!) and rejoins George and Grigorio for mischief. David learns that his father brings contraband from Mexico into the US and with that surprising inside information the three plan a heist of what they believe to be a truckload of televisions: the escapade goes terribly wrong when the true contents of the absconded truck are discovered. The stories that unfold about each of these boys are what make the film gel. Grigorio is a virgin and is infatuated with Marta (Micaela Nevárez), an older but beautiful owner of a doughnut shop: the interaction between these two needy people - the virgin Grigorio and Marta afraid to become involved with someone younger than she - speaks mountains about relationships versus infatuation and physical needs. David and George have a past history of acting out a physical attraction and this comes forth in a set of scenes that address young male sexual identity challenges in some of the most beautifully realized and subtle scenes on film. David and Slater have father/son relationship problems that come to a crisis with David's attraction to George: the surprise is how sensitively this conflict is worked out. George and Cat have never related but when George confides his sexual secrets to Cat she is the supportive bulwark of understanding - again in a very sensitive and subtle way. Given these character developments and the many critical topics the film addresses (prejudice against illegals, taking advantage of the built in crime of the border towns, sexual identity challenges, etc) the ending of the film is intensely dramatic and leaves the audience with a profound message. An excellent young cast and a fine director make this a powerful little film that should not be missed. Grady Harp

This movie has a lofty goal: take on the subject of boundaries. Boundaries of race, of nationality, of sexuality, even generations. It pits father against son, American-born Mexican against an immigrant, an adopted sister against her older brother, and for one brief moment, a strong friendship versus romance. What it doesn't do, is try to make anything of these juicy ingredients. This movie might have worked better as a 4-hour long TV drama with more characters, perhaps expending on the ambivalent wealthy white man, who both helps illegal immigrants and uses them; explain how two best friends become lovers with such ease, with no confusion or bafflement; why an older Mexican woman would break her own rules and succumb to the romantic approaches of a younger man?None of those subjects is approached; instead, the movie hurls us forward with the speed of a stolen truck, hits us with great remorseless tragedy, and ends, as abruptly as it began.If you have nothing better to do that afternoon, you could watch it, but I wouldn't make a special effort just on account of this movie.