This Means War

 

This Means War is what I believe to be a hybrid of a chick flick and a guy movie as they have definitely tried to appease both men and women. Our story is we have two CIA agent partners who inadvertently end up dating the same girl and decide that they will let her decide who the better man is in the end, while trying to track down an international arms dealer at the same time. This was a movie that from the trailer looked very fun to watch and interesting as a concept, but the most intriguing aspect with these two partners at the CIA competing for the girl how they would make the audience care about the characters and hopefully have it so that we did not dislike one of the CIA agents. In the end everything about this movie ended up being pretty simple and formulaic and I would have loves seen something a little more unique and creative and not so predictable.

 

Chris Pine in the role of FDR does well and creates a character that is Likable, suave and even funny at the same time. Pine while far from amazing in the role really shows a lot of the potential he has. Tom Hardy counters against FDR as his partner at the CIA, Tuck. Hardy has a keen ability onscreen to be able to use his charisma to really instantly have the ability to become likable to the audience. Hardy in the ends shows with each role that he really will be a star, and that the sky is the limit. The chemistry between Pine and Hardy really works as they work well together and have some great witty banter back and forth. Reese Witherspoon in the role of Lauren, our girl in the middle of the love triangle and her character struggles throughout the movie. Witherspoon is only average as I found her to be kind of uninspiring and like she was truly just playing a role and not believable like I felt Pine and Hardy were in their roles. Til Schweiger in the role of Heinreich, our villain for the story is a great character that is in the end under used. Schweiger just looks the part of the villain and so his role really could have been a strong one had they given the part sufficient time.

 

The story and the pay-off for This Means War while some may have felt the story was a strong one, I knew what the buildup was moving toward and so I found it to be unsatisfying and boring since I knew where the story was going and what the end was going to be like. I think a big lackluster aspect with the story was the romance factor; with most of your rom-com movies the romance part resonates with women, but can still be enjoyable for men as well. In This Means War something was lacking in the romance and for me I felt like that is because there was not the chemistry between Witherspoon and either Hardy or Pine, so the romance felt off and almost teenage/high school relationship like as it was full of awkward moments. The part of the story that truly worked for me was that of how the characters of FDR and Tuck using CIA resources to not only spy and learn different things about Lauren, but also use it to sabotage the dates of the others. I am sure everyone in this movie universe would have loved to learn that their tax dollars were going toward these two dating and sabotaging each other.

 

This Means War was one of those action romance movie that I was intrigued by at first because I like the whole concept of two CIA guys battling it out for a girl and how they could use CIA resources to their benefit. While I enjoyed the performances put forward by Pine and Hardy, I was really disappointed that Witherspoon phoned in her role. The story for This Means War had its ups and downs and that is why I am giving i three buckets of popcorn out of five. This Means War is a movie that you could easily rent if trying to impress a date or just wanting an excuse to impress your wife and is worth the price of renting.

 

-The Movie Man