Two of the world’s top secret agents are best friends who never let anything come between them — until they inadvertently fall for the same woman. It’s all-out war between them, as the two spies battle each other with high-tech surveillance, advanced tactics, and an arsenal capable of bringing down a small country. At the same time, she struggles with the difficult task of choosing between two very different, but equally attractive romantic propositions.
When the first trailer dropped for THIS MEANS WAR I thought wow this looks bloody terrible but with a cast including Chris Pine (Star Trek), Tom Hardy (Warrior) and Reese Witherspoon (Legally Blonde) I thought this could go both ways. So with my pre conceived notions and a friend in tow we sat down to watch the 2 hour rom-com/action flick.
To start off with the premise for the film is a nice one, two best friends who both work as CIA Agents dating the same girl ideally it’s pretty easy to pick up what happens next both the guys go into full recon mode to find out all they can about Lauren played by Witherspoon, this obviously spirals semi-out of control with the two best mates competing for her affections with Lauren none the wiser.
There are some good points to the film, in some instances its ridiculously funny there’s a scene involving paintball where I was nearly crying with laughter and equally the reconnaissance missions do get quite funny as well, but it seems that even though you can have a decent laugh with the film there’s just to many holes and issues that make it a great one.
Performance wise it was really nice seeing Tom Hardy playing a bit more of a relaxing and comedic role other than in his recent film Warrior I really enjoyed his performance and I’m incredibly interested to see what he brings to the character of BANE in the next Batman film. Chis Pine who we last saw in Unstoppable opposite Denzel Washington delivers well but it feels like he sort of plays himself, a lot of similarities to his previous roles in both Unstoppable and Star Trek. Reese Witherspoon who I always have to make sure her forehead doesn’t distract me does well with what she had to work with but she did look rather sensational on the arms of Hardy and Pine. The one character who did my head in throughout the entire film was Chelsea Handler, she does have some of the funniest lines in the film but can’t act to save her life; personally she should stick with her Talk Show duties and leave acting to the professionals.
THIS MEANS WAR is a fun film and it’s incredibly smart of 20th Century Fox to be releasing it on Valentine’s Day it should work to their advantage, but the film was just missing a whole bunch of different things for me but if you want to sit down not think, have a decent laugh and walk out somewhat satisfied then THIS MEANS WAR is the film for you.
THIS MEANS WAR is in cinemas now; I give this film 3 out of 5 stars.
Check out a clip below