3 Stars Out of 5 Stars
I have a bit of a soft spot for both spy movies and romantic comedies (no, I don’t consider them the same as chick flicks). In fact I think many of us do. So what would happen if you put the two together? Well, if This Means War is anything to go on, then what would come out of this combination is a so-so film that has its moments, but ultimately fails to leave that great of an impression.
After CIA agents FDR (Chris Pine) and Tuck (Tom Hardy) get kicked off a big case for their less-than-covert tactics, the latter turns his eyes to his love life. Through an online dating service he meets Lauren (Reese Witherspoon), a young woman who also happens to have started focusing on her own love life. Though the two hit it off fantastically, FDR unwittingly starts dating Lauren as well. Once the two friends discover their predicament, they begin a “gentlemen’s challenge” to see who becomes her stable boyfriend while Lauren tries to decide between the two. Things get intense as both FDR and Tuck begin using their special training against each other, using everything from spy drones to tranquilizer-firing sniper rifles.
One may notice that I talked very little about the “big case” the FDR and Tuck were on. This is because the film put very little focus on it, despite pulling away from the main characters to build it up. By the end, I had no idea who Heinrich (Til Schweiger) was or what he was after. Instead, the spy element of this film is used primarily to give an extra edge to the love triangle story. Sure, this still worked in various cases, like when both men covertly plant cameras in Lauren’s house without seeing one another, but I wanted to see more about this agency’s organization and motivations. It might even have made the government-funded CIA being unknowing pawns in this little “gentlemen’s challenge” easier to swallow.
The romantic comedy aspect of This Means War does a little better. Each date they go on has at least one moment that made me genuinely laugh, from an overly-aggressive dog in a shelter to perhaps the most hardcore game of paintball I’ve ever seen. And as love triangles go, this one is fairly effective in giving the viewers a good reason to root for one guy or the other. I did, however, get very irritated with Lauren’s unintentional hypocrisy as she complains about her ex-boyfriend cheating on her while secretly dating two different guys.
The acting from the main cast was solid, but the supporting cast was not. Pine and Hardy do a fine job all around and have some pretty good deliveries, and Witherspoon gave a good performance despite her character getting on my nerves at times. The rest of the actors were either forgettable or, in the case of Chelsea Handler as Lauren’s friend, outright irritating. I get it, she’s supposed to be a drunken mom with a dirty mind, but I don’t need it drilled into my head every time she’s on screen.
While it got progressively better as the film went on, the production value of This Means War seemed to be really lacking. Sometimes the way scenes transitioned into one another seemed sloppy and their organization seemed a little confused; first the two agents get kicked off the case, then suddenly they’re sitting and moping at their desks, and then suddenly the film goes to Lauren. There were some pretty intense and well choreographed action scenes as well, but the shots were far too close and shaky to make much out. As for the script, it was pretty basic and has some questionable moments, but wasn’t terrible.
Really, This Means War isn’t that bad of a movie. Still, I wouldn’t feel right saying it would be worth a full price ticket. But for those who just want to have some laughs with friends, it could do as a decent rental.
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