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War on Everyone poster

CAST
MICHAEL PENA
ALEXANDER SKARSGARD
MALCOLM BARRETT
THEO JAMES
CALEB LANDRY JONES
PAUL REISER
STEPHANIE SIGMAN
TESSA THOMPSON
DAVID WILMOT

WRITTEN BY
JOHN MICHAEL McDONAGH

PRODUCED BY
CHRIS CLARK
FLORA FERNANDEZ-MARENGO
PHIL HUNT
COMPTON ROSS

DIRECTED BY
JOHN MICHAEL McDONAGH

GENRE
COMEDY
CRIME

RATED
AUS:NA
UK:15
USA:NA

RUNNING TIME
98 MIN

WAR ON EVERYONE (2016)

A dark, biting, gloriously un-PC slice of buddy cop brilliance, War on Everyone displays writer/director John Michael McDonagh at the zenith of his powers.

The buddy cop movie has become the rage once again. Once a staple of the mid-80s to early 90s mainstream cinema landscape, the sub-genre has undergone a resurgence thanks to the likes of Shane Black’s The Nice Guys and now the appropriately titled War on Everyone, the third feature from Irish filmmaker John Michael McDonagh who has gone from strength to strength with every film.

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McDonagh played with the sub-genre previously with his hoot of a black comedy The Guard, yet War on Everyone is ensconced in buddy comedy territory. Clichés of the genre feature, yet so too does much innovation in its stereotyping breaking characters and scenarios, ranging in race, religion and sexuality.

Just as the title says, War on Everyone takes no quarter on its varied motley crew of characters. Those dispensing the punishment are Terry (Alexander Skarsgard) and Bob (Michael Pena), two New Mexico detectives whose idea of “serve and protect” includes wilfully breaking the law, consuming every drug under the sun, and beating suspects to a pulp with no remorse.  

When the pair are faced with stopping a decadent English Lord (Theo James) and his sadistic right hand man (a suitably seedy Caleb Landry Jones), they quickly find out that while they are bad to the bone, the issue of evil is another matter entirely.  

In a current landscape where police misconduct is a constant news headline, it’s a definite risk on McDonagh’s part to have his two cop anti-heroes so brazen in their behaviour. Yet take risks is what McDonagh does, and it pays off.

McDonagh’s talent as a screenwriter is especially on full display here, blending the outrageous with the profound where quick witted one liners and choice variety of curse words sit comfortably alongside discussion on the philosophy of right versus wrong, and if there will be judgement waiting for those who take pride in their self-imposed justification to sin under the protection of a badge.

It’s no surprise that things get very dark and very cynical. Yet it does so with a naturalism that works within its world of morally corrupt men doing battle against those whose evil exploits make them look like saints.

Both Skarsgard and Pena are excellent as Terry and Bob, Skarsgard especially proving his chops as a legit presence on the screen who delivers a mixture of brooding darkness, key comedic timing and electric magnetism. Where The Legend of Tarzan was poised to make the True Blood actor a movie star, War on Everyone proves his worth as an actor of immense skill and charisma.

The strong chemistry that Skarsgaard and Pena bring to the screen of course owes much to McDonagh the storyteller and filmmaker. It will be interesting to see whether this American set black comedy will finally give him the kudos he deserves with mainstream audiences. It’s their loss if it doesn’t.

****

 

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