War Dogs (2016) Movie | Jonah Hill, Miles Teller & Ana de Armas | Review & Facts

[Music] e e e e e hey guys welcome back to the picture review Channel guys in today's video the movie we are going to talk about is called War Dogs we will talk about what this movie is all the interesting facts about this movie we are going to give you a detailed review of this movie and we will talk in detail about the technical department music department pre-production filming and other details of this film we will also talk about the story of this film apart from this we will discuss about the facts of this film storyline starcast actor's performance in the film and which character has played which role that's why I request you friends to watch this video till the end if you are visiting our channel for the first time don't forget to subscribe to our channel so let's start the video wargs is a 2016 American black comedy crime film directed by Todd Phillips and written by Phillips Jason smilovich and Steven Chin based on the 2011 Rolling Stone article arms in the dudes by Guy Lawson which was later expanded upon in a novel also titled arms in the dudes the film follows two arms dealers ephra diveroli and David Paka who receive a US Army contract to supply ammunitions for the Afghan National Army worth approximately $300 million the film which features an unreliable narrator and is labeled as being based on a true story is heavily fictionalized and dramatized with some of its events such as the duo driving through Iraq were either invented or based on other events such as Chin's own experiences the film stars Jonah Hill Miles Teller Anna De armis and Bradley Cooper who also produced filming began on March 2nd 2015 in Romania the film premiered in New York City on August 3rd 2016 and was theatrically released by Warner Brothers Pictures on August 19th 2016 it received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $86 million Hill received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance additionally diveroli claimed but later dismissed the film was falsely marketed as a true story and sto material from his 2016 Memoir once a [Music] Gunrunner plot in 2005 David Pau is a massage therapist living in Miami Florida with his girlfriend is David spends his life savings on highquality bed sheets to resell to retirement homes but the Venture fails David runs into his old friend ephra dveri who has formed his own company a e y Inc selling arms to the US government for the ongoing war in Iraq is informs David she is pregnant and eph frame offers him a job at aey although David and is vehemently oppose the war David joins aey and lies to [Music] is eph frame explains that military equipment orders are posted on a public website and their job is to bid for small orders ignored by larger contractors but still worth millions local businessman Ralph slutzki provides them funding under the false belief that aey only sells arms to protect Israel David and eph frame landed a contract to provide several thousand Beretta pistols to the Iraqi police in Baghdad but an Italian embargo blocks the shipment which is way late in Jordan failing to deler deliver the cargo as promised would mean that aey would be blacklisted from any future contracts meanwhile is overhears the true nature of David's business David and ephra fly to Jordan bribing locals to release the shipment and are provided with a driver to transport them and the shipment into Iraq the trio drives through the night bribing a border patrol and evading armed insurgents and arrive at the military base where Captain Santos is impressed that they survived the triangle of death the two are paid handsomely I secures larger and more lucrative deals expanding their operation and David's daughter Ella is born while ephra grows more unstable and untrustworthy the company has a chance at the Afghan deal their biggest yet the US government posts a massive order worth $300 million which requires 100 million rounds of AK-47 ammunition and would net A1 100 million profit facing a global shortage of AK-47 ammunition the duo encounters legendary arms dealer Henry Gerard who has access to massive unused weapon depos in Albania needing to dispose of these arsenals including over 100 million rounds of AK-47 ammunition in accordance with NATO treaties and unable to deal directly with the US Gerard offers to make the deal through aey eph frame agrees despite David's discomfort at working with a man on a terrorist watch list the two go to Albania to test the ammunition and win the contract though eframe learns they underbid their competitors by $50 million is frustrated with David's lies leaves to live with her mother preparing the shipment in Albania David discovers virtually all the rounds are Chinese made and illegal due to a US embargo to conceal this EPF frame has the ammunition repackaged learning Henry has charged them a 400% markup eph frame informs David that he plans to cut Henry out of the deal but when David protests and disrespects ephra for having fun while he does all the work ephra becomes enraged destroying the only copy of his partnership contract with David Henry retaliates by having David kidnapped beaten and threatened at gunpoint David learns eph frame did not pay Enver the Albanian handling the repackaging the 100,000 USD repackaging fee in reveals that he knows about the true reason of the repackaging and indirectly threatening to rat them out to us authorities causing David to promise to get ephra to pay him David even learns that his Albanian driver bashkim went missing and starts to wonder if he has been killed returning to Miami David quits aey and demands the money he is owed but ephra refuses David returns to working as a massage therapist and convinces is to move back in with him telling her the truth about aey weeks later ephra and Ralph offered David a poultry severance package and David threatens ephra with evidence of his falsified company documents shortly after David and ephra are AR ared by the FBI who had been contacted by the disgruntled in the FBI had previously arrested Ralph who wore a wire in an incriminating meeting with David and ephra ephra is sentenced to 4 years in prison for numerous crimes related to conspiracy and fraud on The Afghan deal while David pleads guilty and gets 7 months house arrest for his cooperation months later Henry appes to David for abducting him in Albania and shares his appreciation for not being turned it into the FBI David asks what has happened to bashim the Albanian driver but Henry does not answer instead offering David a briefcase of money in exchange for no more questions the movie ends leaving David's decision unclear cast Jonah h as ephra diveroli Miles Teller as David pacus Anna De armas as ease Bradley Cooper as Henry Gerard based on Hinrich tot Kevin Pollock as Ralph slutzki Patrick sis spree as Captain Philip Santos production initially Jesse Berg and Shia labou were set to star in the film however Jonah Hill and Miles Teller were eventually cast further casting was announced in early 2015 with Anna De armis joining in February and JB Blanc joining in March screenwriter Steven Chin based many of the incidents on his own experiences in Iraq shooting was initially set to begin begin late April 2015 in Miami for several weeks according to SSN Insider filming began on March 2nd 2015 later confirmed by The Business Wire on March 17th 2015 filming was underway in Romania on April 29th 2015 Hill and Teller were spotted filming on the set in Burbank California box office wargs grossed $43 million in North America and 43.2 million in other territories for a worldwide total of 86.2 million against a budget of $40 million war doogs is a film about horrible people that refuses to own the horribleness it's too enamored with its glib arms dealer Heroes and although it's packed with scenes that might have inspired moral Whiplash in works like Scarface good Bellas and the Wolf of Wall Street to name three superb films about guys who get equally high on drugs and the adrenaline rush of living outside the law and that war dog's references constantly they're always softened by Hollywood special pleading aren't these guys adorable and funny don't you love what good friends they are don't you admire their audacity look at look at how troubled the hero seems don't you feel for him director and co-writer Todd Phillips The Hangover Trilogy would seem to be an ideal or at least promising person to tell this tale of a couple of pipsqueak Miami arms dealers who make a fortune providing guns and bullets to the US military during the height of the Bush administration's Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but War Dogs which is based on a rolling stone article and a subsequent book by Guy Lawson lacks the courage of its convictions tone Wise It's All Over the map sometimes it seems to stare pitilessly at its hero and narrator former massage therapist and bed sheet dealer turned arms trafficker David picow Miles Teller and his friend and boss ephra diveroli Jonah Hill and recognize them as greedy expedient men who only care about fattening their bank accounts but other times it seems inordinately concerned with whether David and ephra will stay Pals once things turn South as if it's a straightforward unironic buddy flick about badass dudes doing badass things sometimes in slow motion instead of a twisted and conflicted parody of that kind of film worse wargs presents David's barely developed wife is Anna di armis as a voice of conscience who's horrified by her husband's lies and furtiveness never anything more whenever the movie concentrates on is and David's marriage problems it confirms its softness every time it asks us to care deeply about whether David will lose is Who chastises David for his dishonesty then supports him then turns against him again always according to the needs of the plot at that moment it exposes its sweet creamy Hollywood Center Henry and Karen Hill these two ain't scorsese's Wolf of Wall Street which co-star jono Drew critical fire like Good Fellas and Scarface before it for making its Wheeler Dealer protagonists as fun to watch as they were morally repulsive but that was part of the movie's design and whether you thought scorsi and writer Terrence winter succeeded or failed it was obvious that you were supposed to feel torn about the characters and question if you should be having fun watching them get over it was a variation on the gangster film attraction repulsion strategy where you share the hero's Power Trip fantasy and then feel the sting of reality slapping him in the face War doogs keeps the scorsi Arrogant Macho banter which can be very funny thanks to the relaxed interplay between Hill and Teller but it loses the ugly undertoe that makes non social sociopathic viewers feel slightly dirty for feeling so excited the detailed breakdowns of the fine points of arms deals come across as a guns and ammo version of hedge fund guys bragging about a hall the choice of Storyteller is a big part of the film's problem David whose real life equivalent served as a technical advisor and has a cameo is depicted is nearly as big of a blank as his poor wife he's a nice guy who was just going about his business when Satan showed up in the form of eph frame rather than a quick study who ditched his two-day jobs and within a matter of weeks was able to manage a soon to be multi-million dollar business built on Beretta pistols and AK47 shells bought on the cheap and shipped into war zones the best thing about wargs is the characterization of eph frame as embodied by Hill this actor portrays Blobby sarcastic volatile men better than anyone since the late great Chris pen and he's terrific here using the character's squeaky laugh as an exclamation point at the end of a tense moment and letting us see the calculations happening in eph frame's Reptilian Brain by letting his eyes go cloudy there are moments where you can spot the exact moment when ephra decides to betray or destroy someone often the moment occurs when ephra is insisting that he's all about loyalty and Trust if wargs had put eph frame at its Center it might have gotten closer to its apparent wish to be a scathing scori take on arms deep deing during the war on terror half madap Comedy half expose at the very least it would have inoculated itself against claims that it's a safe film on a dangerous subject eph frame is a slobbish but confident con artist who trudges through life in baggy Leisure wear and expensive sunglasses puffing up his ego with money and guns and telling David I'm not pro warar the war is happening this business is PR money at one point he even describes himself to an Iraqi as an ugly American frankly claiming a stereotype that he knows he embodies from head to toe you get the sense that ephra knows full well what he is but has decided not to worry about it a scenario that's considerably more chilling than all all the scenes of David worrying that ephra has gone too far but is too good a friend to abandon every time ephra appears on screen the audience and the movie have to reckon with him but War Dogs chooses instead to hang on David and take his exculpatory narration at face value as if both Phillips and the audience are as gullible as is Phillips knowingly cites Good Fellas through various formal techniques chatty narration scary funny violence freeze frames to the point where you pretty much have to buy the idea that David is a 20-some 21st century Henry Hill but wargs doesn't have the braa visuals and electrifying coldness of scorsi in gangster scumbag mode and you never get the sense as you do in the best narrated Scorsese films that the narrator is shading things to make himself seem more glamorous or less culpable in horror than he actually was as exemplified in the goodfellow's scene where Hill calmly describes the ramifications of a mob foot soldier killing a waiter on a whim but the movie shows us close-ups of the character looking appalled and distressed war doogs in contrast wants us to take David at face value as a nice guy who made a few mistakes and got in way over his head before coming to his senses but is still basically decent in the end he comes off as guilty mainly of loving and trusting his friend and there's hardly anything in the film to suggest that this might not be the whole story eph frame meanwhile comes across as more of an outrageous hot-tempered clown than a grubby Visionary Pig whose lack of education and refinement are eclipsed by a predator's cunning the film turns him into glorified comic relief so funny that he can't be properly frightening most of the characters in the first hangover seemed more disreputable and unpredictable than this guy and Phillips seemed not to care if we like them as long as we found them funny and interesting here he wants us to like his slimy people too or at least the film wants us to like David and root for him to stay friends with ephra and win back is his love it's a brief and David's defense that sometimes plays as if it was written by David himself [ __ ] dogs is a 2016 American black comedy crime film directed by Todd Phillips and written by Phillips Jason smilovich and Steven Chin based on the 2011 Rolling Stone article arms in the dudes by Guy Lawson which was later expanded upon in a novel also titled arms in the dudes the film follows two arms dealers ephra diveroli and David Paka who received a US Army contract to supply ammunitions for the Afghan National Army worth approximately $300 million the film which features an unreliable narrator and is labeled as being based on a true story is heavily fictionalized and dramatized with some of its events such as the duo driving through Iraq were either invented or based on other events such as Chin's own experiences the film stars Jonah Hill Miles Teller Anna De armis and Bradley Cooper who also produced filming began on March 2nd 2015 in Romania the film premiered in New York City on August 3rd 2016 and was theatrically released by Warner Brothers Pictures on August 19th 2016 it received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $86 million Hill received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance additionally diveroli claimed but later dismissed the film was falsely marketed as a true story and stole material from his 2016 Memoir once a Gunrunner plot in 2005 David Pau is a massage therapist living in Miami Florida with his girlfriend is David spends his life savings on highquality bed sheets to resell to retirement homes but the Venture fails David runs into his old friend ephra devoli who has formed his own company aey Inc selling arms to the US government for the ongoing war in Iraq is informs David she is pregnant and eframe offers him a job at aey although David and is vehemently oppose the war David joins aey and lies to is eframe explains that military equipment orders are posted on a public website and their job is to bid for small orders ignored by larger contractors but still worth millions local businessman Ralph slutsky provides them funding under the false belief that AE only sells arms to protect Israel David and ephra landed a contract to provide several thousand Baretta pistols to the Iraqi police in Baghdad but an Italian embargo blocks the shipment which is way laid in Jordan failing to deliver the cargo as promised would mean that aey would be blacklisted from any future contracts meanwhile is overhears the true nature of David's business David and Ephraim fly to Jordan bribing locals to release the shipment and are provided with a driver to transport them and the shipment into Iraq the trio drives through the night bribing a border patrol and evading armed insurgents and arrive at the military base where Captain Santos is impressed that they survive the triangle of death the two are paid handsomely [Music] I secures larger and more lucrative deals expanding their operation and David's daughter Ella is born while EPF frame grows more unstable and untrustworthy the company has a chance at the Afghan deal their biggest yet the US government posts a massive order worth $300 million which requires 100 million rounds of AK-47 ammunition and would net a $100 million profit facing a global shortage of AK-47 ammunition the duo encounters legendary arms dealer Henry Gerard who has access to massive unused weapon Depot in Albania needing to dispose of these arsenals including over 100 million rounds of AK-47 ammunition in accordance with NATO treaties and unable to deal directly with the US Gerard offers to make the deal through AE why ephra agrees despite David's discomfort at working with a man on a terrorist watch list the two go to Albania to test the ammunition and win the contract though eph frame learns they underbid their competitors by $50 million is frustrated with David's lies leaves to live with her mother preparing the shipment in Albania David discovers virtually all the rounds are Chinese made and illegal due to a US embargo to conceal this eph frame has the ammunition repackaged learning Henry has charged them a 400% markup ephra informs David that he plans to cut Henry out of the deal but when David protests and disrespects ephra for having fun while he does all the work ephra becomes enraged d destroying the only copy of his partnership contract with David Henry retaliates by having David kidnapped beaten and threatened at gunpoint David learns eframe did not pay Enver the Albanian handling the repackaging the 100,000 USD repackaging fee in reveals that he knows about the true reason of the repackaging and indirectly threatening to rat them out to us authorities causing David to promise to get ephra to pay him David even learns that his Alban driver bashkim went missing and starts to wonder if he has been killed returning to Miami David quits aey and demands the money he is owed but ephra refuses David returns to working as a massage therapist and convinces is to move back in with him telling her the truth about aey weeks later ephra and Ralph offered David a poultry severance package and David threatens ephra with evidence of his falsified company documents shortly after David and ephra are arrested by the FBI who had been contacted by the disgruntled in the FBI had previously arrested Ralph who wore a wire in an incriminating meeting with dve and ephra ephra is sentenced to 4 years in prison for numerous crimes related to conspiracy and fraud on The Afghan deal while David pleads guilty and gets 7 months house arrest for his cooperation months later Henry appes to David for abducting him in Albania and shares his appreciation for not being turned it into the FBI David asks what has happen at De bashkim the Albanian driver but Henry does not answer instead offering David a briefcase of money in exchange for no more questions the movie ends leaving David's decision unclear cast Jonah Hill as ephra diveroli Miles Teller as David pacus Anna De Aras as ease Bradley Cooper as Henry Gerard based on Hinrich toet Kevin Pollock as Ralph slutzki Patrick sis spree as Captain Philip Santos production initially Jesse Eisenberg and Shia laof were set to star in the film however Jonah Hill and Miles Teller were eventually cast further casting was announced in early 2015 te with Anna De armis joining in February and JB Blanc joining in March screenwriter Steven Chin based many of the incidents on his own experiences in Iraq shooting was initially set to begin late April 2015 in Miami for several weeks according to SSN Insider filming began on March 2nd 2015 later confirmed by the business Wi on March 17th 2015 filming was underway in Romania on April 29th 2015 Hill and tell were spotted filming on the set in Burbank California box office War Dogs grossed $43 million in North America and 43.2 million in other territories for a worldwide total of 86.2 million against a budget of $40 million [ __ ] is a film about horrible people that refuses to own the horribleness it's too enamored with its glib arms dealer Heroes and although it's packed with scenes that might have inspired moral Whiplash in works like Scarface Good Fellas and the Wolf of Wall Street to name three superb films about guys who get equally high on drugs and the adrenaline rush of living outside the law and that wargs references constantly they're always softened by Hollywood special pleading aren't these guys adorable and funny don't you love what good friends they are don't you admire their audacity look at how troubled the hero seems don't you feel for him director and co-writer Todd Phillips The Hangover Trilogy which seemed to be an ideal or at least promising person to tell this tale of a couple of pipsqueak Miami arms dealers who make a fortune providing guns and bullets to the US military during the height of the Bush administration's Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but War Dogs which is based on a rolling stone article and a subsequent book by Guy Lawson lacks the courage of its convictions tone Wise It's All Over the map sometimes it seems to stare pitilessly at its hero and narrator former massage therapist and bed sheet dealer turned arms trafficker David Paca Miles Teller and his friend and boss ephra diveroli Jonah Hill and recognize them as greedy expedient men who only care about fattening their bank accounts but other times it seems inordinately concerned with whether David and ephra will stay Pals once things turn South as if it's a straightforward unironic buddy flick about badass dudes doing badass things sometimes in slow motion instead of a twisted and conflicted parody of that kind of film worse War doogs presents David's barely developed wife is Anna De armis as a voice of conscience who's horrified by her husband's lies and furtiveness never anything more whenever the movie concentrates on is and David's marriage problems it confirms its softness every time it asks us to care deeply about whether David will lose is Who chastises David for his dishonesty then supports him then turns against him again always according to the needs of the plot at that moment it exposes its sweet creamy Hollywood Center Henry and Karen Hill these two ain't scorsese's Wolf of Wall Street which co-star jono Hill Drew critical fire like Good Fellas and Scarface before it for making its Wheeler Dealer protagonists as fun to watch as they were morally repulsive but that was part of the movie's design and whether you thought scorsi and writer Terren winter succeeded or failed it was obvious that you were supposed to feel torn about the characters and question if you should be having fun watching them get over it was a variation on the gangster film attraction repulsion strategy where you share the hero's Power Trip fantasy and then feel the sting of reality slapping him in the face wargs keeps the scorsi Arrogant Macho banter which can be very funny thanks to the relaxed interplay between Hill and Teller but it loses the ugly undertoe that makes nons sociopathic viewers feel slightly dirty for feeling so excited the detailed breakdowns of the fine points of arms deals come across as a guns and ammo version of hedge fund guys bragging about a hall the choice of Storyteller is a big part of the film's problem David whose real life equivalent served as a technical adviser and has a cameo is depicted as nearly as big of a blank as his poor wife he's a nice guy who was just going about his business when Satan showed up in the form of ephra rather than a quick study who ditched his two-day jobs and within a matter of weeks was able to manage a soon to be multi-million doll business built on Baretta pistols and AK-47 shells bought on the cheap and shipped into war zones the best thing about wargs is the characterization of eframe as embod by Hill this actor portrays Blobby sarcastic vola men better than anyone since the late great Chris pen and he's terrific here using the character's squeaky laugh as an exclamation point at the end of a tense moment and letting us see the calculations happening in E frame's Reptilian Brain by letting his eyes go cloudy there are moments where you can spot the exact moment when eph frame decides to betray or destroy someone often the moment occurs when ephra is insisting that he's all about loyalty and Trust if War doogs had put eph frame at its Center it might have gotten closer to its apparent wish to be a scathing scores and take on arms dealing during the war on terror half madap Comedy half expose at the very least it would have inoculated itself against claims that it's a SA film on a dangerous subject ephra is a slobbish but confident con artist who trudges through life in baggy Leisure wear and expensive sunglasses puffing up his ego with money and guns and telling David I'm not pro war the war is happening this business is pro money at one point he even describes himself to an Iraqi as an ugly American frankly claiming a stereotype that he knows he embodies from head to toe you get the sense that ephra knows full well what he is but has decided not to worry about it a scenario that's considerably more chilling than all the scenes of David worrying that ephra has gone too far but is too good a friend to abandon every time eph frame appears on screen the audience and the movie have to reckon with him but War doogs chooses instead to hang on David and take his exculpatory narration at face value as if both Phillips and the audience are as gullible as is Phillips knowingly cites Goodfellas through various formal techniques chatty narration scary funny violence freeze frames to the point where you pretty much have to buy the idea that David is a 20-some 21st century Henry Hill but War Dogs doesn't have the Brava visuals and electrifying coldness of Scorsese and gangster scumbag mode and you never get the sense as you do in the best narrated Scorsese films that the narrator is shading things to make himself seem more glamorous or less culpable in horror than he actually was as exemplified in the good fellow's scene where Hill calmly describes the ramifications of a mob foot soldier killing a waiter on a whim but the movie shows us closeups of the character looking appalled and distressed woggs in contrast wants us to take David at face value as a nice guy who made a few mistakes and got in way over his head before coming to his senses but is still basically decent in the end he comes off as guilty mainly of loving and trusting his friend and there's hardly anything in the film to suggest that this might not be the whole story ephra meanwhile comes across as more of an outrageous hot-tempered clown than a grubby Visionary Pig whose lack of education and refinement are eclipsed by a predator's cunning the film turns him into glorified comic relief so funny that he can't be properly frightening most of the characters in the first hangover seemed more disreputable and unpredictable than this guy and Phillips seemed not to care if we like them as long as we found them funny and interesting here he wants us to like his slimy people too or at least the film wants us to like David and root for him to stay friends with EP frame and win back is his love it's a brief in David's defense that sometimes plays as if it was written by David himself wargs is a 2016 American black comedy crime film directed by Todd Phillips and written by Phillips Jason smilovich and Steven Chin based on the 20 2011 Rolling Stone article arms and the dudes by Guy Lawson which was later expanded upon in a novel also titled arms in the dudes the film follows two arms dealers ephra diveroli and David Paka who receive a US Army contract to supply ammunitions for the Afghan National Army worth approximately $300 million the film which features an unreliable narrator and is labeled as being based on a true story is heavily fictionalized and dramatized with some of its events such as the duo driving through Iraq were either invented or based on other events such as Chin's own experiences the film stars Jonah Hill Miles Teller Anna De armis and Bradley Cooper who also produced filming began on March 2nd 2015 in Romania the film premiered in New York City on August 3rd 2016 and was theatrically released by Warner Brothers Pictures on August 19th 2016 it received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $86 million Hill received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance additionally diveroli claimed but later dismissed the film was falsely marketed as a true story and stole material from his 2016 Memoir once a Gunrunner plot in 2005 David Pau is a massage therapist living in Miami Florida with his girlfriend is David spends his life savings on highquality bed sheets to resell to retirement homes but the Venture fails David runs into his old friend Ephraim dveri who has formed his own company aey Inc selling arms to the US government for the ongoing war in Iraq is informs David she is pregnant and eph frame offers him a job at AE although David and is vehemently opposed the war David joins aey and lies to is EP frame explains that military equipment orders are posted on a public website and their job is to bid for small orders ignored by larger contractors but still worth millions local businessman Ralph slutsky provides them funding under the false belief that aey only sells arms to protect Israel David and ephra landed a contract to provide several thousand Beretta pistols to the Iraqi police in Baghdad but an Italian embargo blocks the shipment which is way late in Jordan failing to deliver the cargo as promised would mean that aey would be blacklisted for any future contracts meanwhile is overhears the true nature of David's business David and eph frame fly to Jordan bribing locals to release the shipment and are provided with a driver to transport them and the shipment into Iraq the trio drives through the night bribing a border patrol and evading armed insurgents and arrive at the military base where Captain Santos is impressed that they survived the triangle of death the two are paid handsomely I secures larger and more lucrative deals expanding their operation and David's daughter Ella is born while ephra grows more un able and untrustworthy the company has a chance at the Afghan deal their biggest yet the US government posts a massive order worth $300 million which requires 100 million rounds of AK-47 ammunition and would net a $ 100 million profit facing a global shortage of AK-47 ammunition the duo encounters legendary arms dealer Henry Gerard who has access to massive unused weapon Depot in Albania needing to dispose of these arsenals including over 100 million rounds of AK-47 ammunition in accordance with NATO treaties and unable to deal directly with the US Gerard offers to make the deal through aey ephra agrees despite David's discomfort at working with a man on a terrorist watch list the two go to Albania to test the Amun and win the contract though EP frame learns they underbid their competitors by $50 million is frustrated with David's lies leaves to live with her mother preparing the shipment in Albania David discovers virtually all the rounds are Chinese made and illegal due to a US embargo to conceal this EP frame has the ammunition repackaged learning Henry has charged them a 400% markup ephra informs David that he plans to cut Henry out of the deal but when David protests and disrespects ephra for having fun while he does all the work ephra becomes enraged destroying the only copy of his partnership contract with David Henry retaliates by having David kidnapped beaten and threatened at gunpoint David learned eframe did not pay Enver the Albanian handling the repackaging the 100,000 USD repackaging fee in reveals that he knows about the true reason of the repackaging and indirectly threatening to rat them out to us authorities causing David to promise to get ephra to pay him David even learns that his Albanian driver bashkim went missing and starts to wonder if he has been killed returning to Miami David quits aey and demands the money he is owed but ephra refuses David returns to working as a massage therapist and convinces is to move back in with him telling her the truth about aey weeks later ephra and Ralph offered David a poultry severance package and David threatens ephra with evidence of his falsified company documents shortly after David and ephra are arrested by the FBI who had been contacted by the disgruntled in the FBI had previously arrested Ralph who wore a wire in an incriminating meeting with David and ephra ephra is sentenced to four years in prison for numerous crimes related to conspiracy and fraud on The Afghan deal while David pleads guilty and gets 7 months house arrest for his cooperation months later Henry appes to David for abdic him in Albania and shares his appreciation for not being turned it into the FBI David asks what has happened to bashim the Albanian driver but Henry does not answer instead offering David a briefcase of money in exchange for no more questions the movie ends leaving David's decision unclear cast Jonah Hill as ephra diveroli Miles Teller has David pacus Anna De armas has ease Bradley Cooper as Henry Gerard based on Hinrich tot Kevin Pollock as Ralph slutsky Patrick sis spree as Captain Philip Santos production initially Jesse Eisenberg and Shia laof were set to star in the film however Jonah Hill and Miles Teller were eventually cast further casting was announced in early 2015 with Anna De armis joining in February and JB Blanc joining in March screenwriter Steven Chin based many of the incidents on his own experiences in Iraq shooting was initially set to begin late April 2015 in Miami for several weeks according to SSN Insider filming began on March 2nd 2015 later confirmed by The Business Wire on March 17th 2015 filming was underway in Romania on April 29th 2015 Hill and Teller were spotted filming on the set in Burbank California box office wargs grossed $43 million in North America and 43.2 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $86.1 million against a budget of $40 million war doogs is a film about horrible people that refuses to own the horribleness it's too enamored with its glib arms dealer Heroes and although it's packed with scenes that might have inspired moral Whiplash in works like Scarface Good Fellas and the Wolf of Wall Street to name three superb films about guys who get equally high on drugs and the adrenaline rush of living outside the law and that war dogs references constantly they're always softened by Hollywood special pleading aren't these guys adorable and funny don't you don't you love what good friends they are don't you admire their audacity look at how troubled the hero seems don't you feel for him director and co-writer Todd Phillips The Hangover Trilogy would seem to be an ideal or at least promising person to tell this tale of a couple of pipsqueak Miami arms dealers who make a fortune providing guns and bullets to the US military during the height of the Bush administration's Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but wargs which is based on a rolling stone article and a subsequent book by Guy Lawson lacks the courage of its convictions tone Wise It's All Over the map sometimes it seems to stare pitilessly at its hero and narrator former massage therapist and bed sheet dealer turned arms trafficker David Paca Miles Teller and his friend and boss EP frame diveroli Jonah Hill and recognize them as greedy expedient men who only care about fattening their bank accounts but other times it seems inordinately concerned with whether David and eph frame will stay Pals once things turn South as if it's a straightforward unironic buddy flick about badass dudes doing badass things sometimes in slow motion instead of a twisted and conflicted parody of that kind of film worse War doogs presents David's barely developed wife is Anna di armis as a voice of conscience who's horrified by her husband's lies and furtiveness never anything more whenever the movie concentrates on is and David's marriage problems it confirms its softness every time it asks us to care deeply about whether David will lose is Who chastises David for his dishonesty then supports him then turns against him again always according to the needs of the plot at that moment it exposes its sweet creamy Hollywood Center Henry and Karen Hill these two ain't scorsese's Wolf of Wall Street which co-star jono Hill through critical fire like Good Fellas and Scarface before it for making its Wheeler Dealer protagonists as fun to watch as they were morally repulsive but that was part of the movie's design and whether you thought scorsi and writer Terren winter succeeded or failed it was obvious that you were supposed to feel torn about the characters and question if you should be having fun watching them get [Music] over it was a variation on the gangster film attraction repulsion strategy where you share the hero's Power Trip fantasy and then feel the sting of reality slapping him in the face War doogs keeps the scors saian Arrogant Macho banter which can be very funny thanks to the relaxed interplay between Hill and Teller but it loses the ugly undertoe that makes nons sociopathic viewers feel slightly dirty for feeling so excited the detailed breakdowns of the fine points of arms deals come across as a guns and ammo version of hedge fund guys bragging about a hall the choice of Storyteller is a big part of the film's problem David who real life equivalent served as a technical advisor and has a cameo is depicted as nearly as big of a blank as his poor wife he's a nice guy who was just going about his business when Satan showed up in the form of eph frame rather than a quick study who ditched his two-day jobs and within a matter of weeks was able to manage a soon Tobe multi-million dollar business built on Beretta pistols and a k47 shells bought on the cheap and shipped into war zones the best thing about war doogs is the characterization of eph frame as embodied by Hill this actor portrays Blobby sarcastic volatile men better than anyone since the late great Chris Penn and he's terrific here using the character's squeaky laugh as an exclamation point at the end of a tense moment moment and letting us see the calculations happening in eph frame's Reptilian Brain by letting his eyes go cloudy there are moments where you can spot the exact moment when ephra decides to betray or destroy someone often the moment occurs when ephra is insisting that he's all about loyalty and Trust if War doogs had put eph frame at its Center it might have gotten close closer to its apparent wish to be a scathing scorsi take on arms dealing during the war on terror half madap Comedy half expose at the very least it would have inoculated itself against claims that it's a safe film on a dangerous subject eph frame is a slobbish but confident con artist who trudges through life in baggy Leisure wear and expensive sunglasses puffing up his ego with money and guns and telling David I'm not proar the war is happening this business is PR money at one point he even describes himself to an Iraqi as an ugly American frankly claiming a stereotype that he knows he embodies from head to toe you get the sense that ephra knows full well what he is but has decided not to worry about it a scenario that's considerably more chilling than all the scenes of David worrying that ephra has gone too far but is too good a friend to abandon every time ephra appears on screen the audience and the movie have to reckon with him but War doogs chooses instead to hang on David and take his exculpatory narration at face value as if both Phillips and the audience are as gullible as is Phillips knowingly sites Good Fellas through various formal techniques chatty narration scary funny violence freeze frames to the point where you pretty much have to buy the idea that David is a 20-some 21st century Henry Hill but War Dogs doesn't have the Brava visuals and electrifying coldness of scorsi in gangster scumbag mode and you never get the sense as you do in the best narrated Scorsese films that the narrator is shading things to make himself seem more glamorous or less culpable in horror than he actually was as exemplified in the goodfellow's scene where Hill calmly describes the ramifications of a mob foot soldier killing a waiter on a whim but the movie shows us close-ups of the character looking appalled and distressed wogs in contrast wants us to take David at face value as a nice guy who made a few mistakes and got in way over his head before coming to his senses but is still basically decent in the end he comes off as guilty mainly of loving and trusting his friends friend and there's hardly anything in the film to suggest that this might not be the whole story eph frame meanwhile comes across as more of an outrageous hot-tempered clown than a grubby Visionary Pig whose lack of education and refinement are eclipsed by a predator's cunning the film turns him into glorified comic relief so funny that he can't be properly frightening most of the characters in the first hangover seemed more disreputable and unpredictable than this guy and Phillips seemed not to care if we like them as long as we found them funny and interesting here he wants us to like his slimy people too or at least the film wants us to like David and root for him to stay friends with ephra and win back is's love it's a brief and David's defense that sometimes plays as if it was written by David himself War Dogs is a 2016 American black comedy crime film directed by Todd Phillips and written by Phillips Jason smilovich and Steven Chin based on the 2011 Rolling Stone article arms in the dudes by Guy Lawson which was later expanded upon in a novel also titled arms in the dudes the film follows two arms dealers ephra diveroli and David Paca who receive a US Army contract to supply ammunitions for the Afghan National Army worth approximately $300 million the film which features an unreliable narrator and is labeled as being based on a true story is heavily fictionalized and dramatized with some of its events such as the duo driving through Iraq were either invented or based on other events such as Chin's own experiences the film stars Jonah Hill Miles Teller Ana de Aris and Bradley Cooper who also produced filming began on March 2nd 2015 in Romania the film premiered in New York City on August 3rd 2016 and was theatrically released by Warner Brothers Pictures on August 19th 2016 it received mixed reviews from critics engrossed $86 million Hill received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance additionally diveroli claimed but later dismissed the film was falsely marketed as a true story and stole material from his 2016 Memoir once a Gunrunner plot in 2005 David Pau is a massage therapist living in Miami Florida with his girlfriend is David spends his life savings on highquality bed sheets to resell to retirement homes but the Venture fails David runs into his old friend Ephraim dveri who has formed his own company aey Inc selling arms to the US government for the ongoing war in Iraq is informs David she is pregnant and eph frame offers him a job at aey although David and is vehemently opposed the war David joins aey and lies to is eph frame explains that military equipment orders are posted on a public website and their job is to bid for small orders ignored by larger contractors but still worth millions local business business man Ralph slutsky provides them funding under the false belief that AE only sells arms to protect Israel David and ephra landed a contract to provide several thousand Beretta pistols to the Iraqi police in Baghdad but an Italian embargo blocks the shipment which is way late in Jordan failing to deliver the cargo as promised would mean that aey would be blacklisted from any future contract [Music] meanwhile is overhears the true nature of David's business David and ephra fly to Jordan bribing locals to release the shipment and are provided with a driver to transport them and the shipment into Iraq the trio drives through the night bribing a border patrol and evading armed insurgents and arrive at the military base where Captain Santos is impressed that they surviv the triangle of death the two are paid [Music] handsomely I secures larger and more lucrative deals expanding their operation and David's daughter Ella is born while EPF frame grows more unstable and untrustworthy the company has a chance at the Afghan deal their biggest yet the US government posts a massive order worth $300 million which requires 100 million rounds of AK-47 ammunition and would net a $100 million profit facing a global shortage of AK-47 ammunition the duo encounters legendary arms dealer Henry Gerard who has access to massive unused weapon Depot in Albania needing to dispose of these arsenals including over 100 million rounds of AK-47 ammunition in accordance with NATO treaties and able to deal directly with the US Gerard offers to make the deal through aey eph frame agrees despite David's discomfort at working with a man on a terrorist watch list the two go to Albania to test the ammunition and win the contract though eframe learns they underbid their competitors by $50 million is frustrated with David's lies leaves to live with her mother preparing the shipment in Albania David discovers virtually all the rounds are Chinese made and illegal due to a US embargo to conceal this eph frame has the ammunition repackaged learning Henry has charged them a 400% markup ephra informs David that he plans to cut Henry out of the deal but when David protests and disrespects eph frame for having fun while he does all the work EP frame becomes enraged destroying the only copy of his partnership contract with David Henry retaliates by having David kidnapped beaten and threatened at gunpoint David learns EPF frame did not pay Enver the Albanian handling the repackaging the 100,000 USD repackaging fee inve reveals that he knows about the true reason of the repackaging and indirectly threatening to rat them out to us authorities causing David to promise to get ephra to pay him David even learns that his Albanian driver bashim went missing and starts to wonder if he has been killed returning to Miami David quits aey and demands the money he is owed but ephra refuses David returns to working as a massage therapist and convinces is to move back in with him telling her the truth about aey weeks later ephra and Ralph offered David a poultry severance package and David threatens ephra with evidence of his falsified company documents shortly after David and ephra are arrested by the FBI who had been contacted by the disgruntled in the FBI had previously arrested Ralph who wore a wire in an incriminating meeting with David and ephra ephra is sentenced to four years in prison for numerous crimes related to conspiracy and fraud on The Afghan deal while David pleads guilty and gets 7 months house arrest for his cooperation months later Henry appes to David for abducting him in Albania and shares his appreciation for being turned it into the FBI David asks what has happened to bashim the Albanian driver but Henry does not answer instead offering David a briefcase of money in exchange for no more questions the movie ends leaving David's decision unclear cast Jonah Hill as ephra diveroli Miles Teller as David pacus Anna De armas as ease Bradley Cooper as Henry Girard based on Heinrich toet Kevin Pollock has Ralph slutsky Patrick sis spree as Captain Philip Santos production initially Jesse Eisenberg and Shia La were set to star in the film however Jonah Hill and miles teller were eventually cast further casting was announced in early 2015 with Anna De armis joining in February and JB Blanc joining in March screenwriter Steven Chin based many of the incidents on his own experiences in Iraq shooting was initially set to begin late April 2015 in Miami for several weeks according to SSN Insider filming began on March 2nd 2015 later confirmed by The Business Wire on March 17th 2015 filming was underway in Romania on April 29th 2015 Hill and Teller were spotted filming on the set in Burbank California box office War Dogs grossed $43 million in North America and 43.2 million in other territories for a worldwide total of 86.2 million against a budget of $40 million War Dogs is a film about horrible people that refuses to own the horribleness it's too enamored with its glib arms dealer Heroes and although it's packed with scenes that might have inspired moral Whiplash in works like Scarface good FAS and the Wolf of Wall Street to name three superb films about guys who get equally high on drugs and the adrenaline rush of living outside the law and that war dogs references constantly they're always softened by Hollywood special pleading aren't these guys adorable and funny don't you love what good friends they are don't you admire their audacity look at how troubled the hero seems don't you feel for him Direct and co-writer Todd Phillips The Hangover Trilogy would seem to be an ideal or at least promising person to tell this tale of a couple of pipsqueak Miami arms dealers who make a fortune providing guns and bullets to the US military during the height of the Bush administration's Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but wargs which is based on a rolling stone article and a subsequent book by Guy Lawson lacks the courage of its convictions tone Wise It's All Over the map sometimes it seems to stare pitilessly at its hero and narrator former massage therapist and bed sheet dealer turned arms trafficker David picow Miles Teller and his friend and boss eph frame diveroli Jonah Hill and recogn ize them as greedy expedient men who only care about fattening their bank accounts but other times it seems inordinately concerned with whether David and ephra will stay Pals once things turn South as if it's a straightforward unironic buddy flick about badass dudes doing badass things sometimes in slow motion instead of a twisted and conflicted parody of that kind of film worse War doogs presents David's barely developed wife is Ana di armis as a voice of conscience who's horrified by her husband's lies and furtiveness never anything more whenever the movie concentrates on is and David's marriage problems it confirms its softness every time it asks us to care deeply about whether David will lose is Who chastises David David for his dishonesty then supports him then turns against him again always according to the needs of the plot at that moment it exposes its sweet creamy Hollywood Center Henry and Karen Hill these two ain't scorsese's Wolf of Wall Street which CoStar jono Hill through critical fire like Good Fellas and Scarface before it for making its Wheeler Dealer protagonists as fun to watch as they were morally repulsive but that was part of the movie's design and whether you thought Scorsese and writer Terren winter succeeded or failed it was obvious that you were supposed to feel torn about the characters and question if you should be having fun watching them get over it was a variation on the gangster film attraction repulsion strategy where you share the hero's Power Trip fantasy and then feel the sting of reality slapping him in the face War Dogs keeps the scorsi Arrogant Macho banter which can be very funny thanks to the relaxed interplay between Hill and Teller but it loses the ugly undertoe that makes nons sociopathic viewers feel slightly dirty for feeling so excited the detailed breakdowns of the fine points of arms deals come across as a guns and ammo version of hedge fun guys bragging about a hall the choice of Storyteller is a big part of the film's problem David whose real life equivalent served as a technical adviser and has a cameo is depicted as nearly as big of a blank as his poor wife he's a nice guy who was just going about his business when Satan showed up in the form of EP frame rather than a quick study who ditched his two-day jobs and within a matter of weeks was able to manage a soon to be multi-million dollar business built on Beretta pistols and AK-47 shells bought on the cheap and shipped into war zones the best thing about war doogs is the characterization of eframe as embod Body by Hill this actor portrays Blobby sarcastic volatile men better than anyone since the late great Chris pen and he's terrific here using the character's squeaky laugh as an exclamation point at the end of a tense moment and letting us see the calculations happening in eph frame's Reptilian Brain by letting his eyes go cloudy there are moments where you can spot the exact moment moment when ephra decides to betray or destroy someone often the moment occurs when eph frame is insisting that he's all about loyalty and Trust if wargs had put ephra at its Center it might have gotten closer to its apparent wish to be a scathing scori take on arms dealing during the war on terror half madap Comedy half expose at the very least it would have inoculated itself against claims that it's a safe film on a dangerous subject eph frame is a slobbish but confident con artist who trudges through life in baggy Leisure wear and expensive sunglasses puffing up his ego with money and guns and telling David I'm not pro warar the war is happening this business is PR money at one point he even describes himself to an Iraqi as an ugly American frankly claiming a stereotype that he knows he embodies from head to toe you get the sense that ephra knows full well what he is but has decided not to worry about it a scenario that's considerably more chilling than all the scenes of David worrying that ephra has gone too far but is too good a friend to to abandon every time eframe appears on screen the audience and the movie have to reckon with him but War Dogs chooses instead to hang on David and take his exculpatory narration at face value as if both Phillips and the audience are as gullible as is Phillips knowingly cites Goodfellas through various formal techniques chatty narration scary funny violence freeze frames to the point where you pretty much have to buy the idea that David is a 20-some 21st century Henry Hill but wargs doesn't have the braa visuals and electrifying coldness of scorsi in gangster scumbag mode and you never get the sense as you do in the best narrated Scorsese films that the the narrator is shading things to make himself seem more glamorous or less culpable in horror than he actually was as exemplified in the good fellow's scene where Hill calmly describes the ramifications of a mob foot soldier killing a waiter on a whim but the movie shows us close-ups of the character looking appalled and distressed wargs in contrast wants us to take David at face value as a nice guy who made a few mistakes and got in way over his head before coming to his senses but is still basically decent in the end he comes off as guilty mainly of loving and trusting his friend and there's hardly anything in the film to suggest that this might not be the whole story eph frame meanwhile comes across as more of an outrageous hot-tempered CL clown than a grubby Visionary Pig whose lack of education and refinement are eclipsed by a predator's cunning the film turns him into glorified comic relief so funny that he can't be properly frightening most of the characters in the first hangover seemed more disreputable and unpredictable than this guy and Phillips seemed not to care if we like them as as long as we found them funny and interesting here he wants us to like his slimy people too or at least the film wants us to like David and root for him to stay friends with ephra and win back is his love it's a brief in David's defense that sometimes plays as if it was written by David himself war doogs is a 2016 American black comedy crime film directed by Todd Phillips and written by Phillips Jason smilovich and Steven Chin based on the 2011 Rolling Stone article arms and the dudes by Guy Lawson which was later expanded upon in a novel also titled arms in the dudes the film follows two arms dealers ephra diveroli and David Paca who received a US Army contract to supply ammunitions for the Afghan Nation Army worth approximately $300 million the film which features an unreliable narrator and is labeled as being based on a true story is heavily fictionalized and dramatized with some of its events such as the duo driving through Iraq were either invented or based on other events such as Chin's own experiences the film stars Jonah Hill Miles Teller Anna De armis and Bradley Cooper who also produced filming began on March 2nd 2015 in Romania the film premiered in New York City on August 3rd 2016 and was theatrically released by Warner Brothers Pictures on August 19th 2016 it received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $86 million Hill received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance additionally diveroli claimed but later dismissed the film was falsely marketed as a true story and stole material from his 2016 Memoir once a Gunrunner plot in 2005 David Pau is a massage therapist living in Miami Florida with his girlfriend is David spend his life savings on highquality bed sheets to resell to retirement homes but the Venture fails David runs into his old friend Ephraim dveri who has formed his own company aey Inc selling arms to the US government for the ongoing war in Iraq is informs David she is pregnant and eph frame offers him a job at aey although David and is vehemently opposed the war David joins AE why and lies to is eframe explains that military equipment orders are posted on a public website and their job is to bid for small orders ignored by larger contractors but still worth millions local businessman Ralph slutsky provides them funding under the false belief that aey only sells arms to protect Israel David and ephra landed a contract to provide several thousand Beretta pistols to the Iraqi police in Baghdad but an Italian embargo blocks the shipment which is way late in Jordan failing to deliver the cargo as promised would mean that aey would be blacklisted from any future contracts meanwhile is overhears the true nature of David's business David and ephra fly to Jordan bribing locals to release the shipment and are provided with a driver to transport them and the shipment into Iraq the trio drives through the night bribing a border patrol and evading armed insurgents and arrive at the military base where Captain Santos is impressed that they survived the triangle of death the two are paid handsomely I secures larger and more lucrative deals expand ing their operation and David's daughter Ella is born while EPF frame grows more unstable and untrustworthy the company has a chance at the Afghan deal their biggest yet the US government posts a massive order worth $300 million which requires 100 million rounds of AK-47 ammunition and would net a $100 million profit facing a global shortage of AK-47 ammunition the duo encounters legendary arms dealer Henry Gerard who has access to massive unused weapon Depot in Albania needing to dispose of these arsenals including over 100 million rounds of AK-47 ammunition in accordance with NATO treaties and unable to deal directly with the US Gerard offers to make the deal through aey ephra agrees despite David's discomfort at working with with a man on a terrorist watch list the two go to Albania to test the ammunition and win the contract though EPF frame learns they underbid their competitors by $50 [Music] million is frustrated with David's lies leaves to live with her mother preparing the shipment in Albania David discovers virtually all the rounds are Chinese made and illegal due to a US embargo to conceal this eph frame has the ammunition repackaged learning Henry has charged them a 400% markup ephra informs David that he plans to cut Henry out of the deal but when David protests and disrespects ephra for having fun while he does all the work ephra becomes enraged destroying the only copy of his partnership contract with David Henry retaliates by having David kidnapped beaten and threatened at gunpoint David learns eph frame did not pay Enver the Albanian handling the repackaging the 100,000 USD repackaging fee in reveals that he knows about the true reason of the repackaging and indirectly threatening to rat them out to us authorities causing David to promise to get ephra to pay him David even learns that his Albanian driver bashim went missing and starts to wonder if he has been killed returning to Miami David quits aey and demands the money he is owed but ephra refuses David returns to working as a massage therapist and convinces isz to move back in with him telling her the truth about aey weeks later ephra and Ralph offered David a poultry severance package and David threatens ephra with evidence of his falsified company documents shortly after David and ephra are arrested by the FBI who had been contacted by the disgruntled in ver the FBI had previously arrested Ralph who wore a wire in an incriminating meeting with David and ephra ephra is sentenced to 4 years in prison for numerous crimes related to conspiracy and fraud on The Afghan deal while David pleads guilty and gets 7 months house arrest for his cooperation months later Henry appes to David for abducting him in Albania and shares his appreciation for not being turned it into the FBI David asks what has happened at to bashkim the Albanian driver but Henry does not answer instead offering David a briefcase of money in exchange for no more questions the movie ends leaving David's decision unclear cast Jonah Hill as ephra diveroli Miles Teller as David pacus Anna De armas as ease Bradley Cooper has Henry Gerard based on Hinrich toet Kevin Pollock as Ralph slutsky Patrick sis spree as Captain Philip Santos production initially Jesse Eisenberg and Shia La were set to star in the film however Jonah Hill and Miles Teller were eventually cast further casting was announced in early 2015 with anady armis joining in February and JB Blanc joining in March [Music] screenwriter Steven Chin based many of the incidents on his own experiences in Iraq shooting was initially set to begin late April 2015 in Miami for several weeks according to SSN Insider filming began on March 2nd 2015 later confirmed by The Business Wire on March 17th 2015 filming was underway in Romania on April 29th 2015 Hill and Teller were spotted filming on the set in Burbank California box office War Dogs grossed $43 million in North America and 43.2 million in other territories for a worldwide total of 86.2 million against a budget of $40 million war doogs is a film about horrible people that refuses to own the horribleness it's too enamored with its glib arms dealer Heroes and although it's packed with scenes that might have inspired moral Whiplash in works like Scarface Good Fellas and the Wolf of Wall Street to name three superb films about guys who get equally high on drugs and the adrenaline rush of living outside the law and that wargs references constantly they're always softened by Hollywood special pleading aren't these guys adorable and funny don't you love what good friends they are don't you admire their audacity look at how troubled the hero seems don't you feel for him director and co-writer Todd Phillips The Hangover Trilogy would seem to be an ideal or at least promising person to tell this tale of a couple of pipsqueak Miami arms dealers who make a fortune providing guns and bullets to the US military during the height of the Bush administration's Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but War Dogs which is based on a rolling stone article and a subsequent book by Guy Lawson lacks the courage of its convictions tone Wise It's All Over the map sometimes it seems to stare pitilessly at its hero and narrator former massage therapist and bed sheet dealer turned arms trafficker David picow Miles Teller and his friend and boss ephra diveroli Jonah Hill and recognize them as greedy expedient men who only care about fattening their bank accounts but other times it seems inordinately concerned with whether David and E frame will stay Pals once things turn South as if it's a straightforward unironic buddy flick about badass dudes doing badass things sometimes in slow motion instead of a twisted and conflicted parody of that kind of film worse wargs presents David's barely developed wife is Anna di armis as a voice of conscience who's horrified by her husband's lies and Fess never anything more whenever the movie concentrates on is and David's marriage problems it confirms its softness every time it asks us to care deeply about whether David will lose is Who chastises David for his dishonesty then supports him then turns against him again always according to the needs of the plot at that moment it exposes its sweet creamy Hollywood Center Henry and Karen Hill these two ain't scores Wolf of Wall Street which CoStar jono Hill Drew critical fire like Good Fellas Scarface before it for making its Wheeler Dealer protagonists as fun to watch as they were morally repulsive but that was part of the movie's design and whether you thought scorsi and writer Terren winter succeeded or failed it was obvious that you were supposed to feel torn about the characters and question if you should be having fun watching them get [Music] over it was a variation on the gangster film attraction repulsion strategy where you share the hero's Power Trip fantasy and then feel the sting of reality slapping him in the face wargs keeps the scors arrogant Macho banter which can be very funny thanks to the relaxed interplay between Hill and Teller but it loses the ugly undertoe that makes nons sociopathic viewers feel slightly dirty for feeling so excited the detailed breakdowns of the fine points of arms deals come across as a guns and ammo version of hedge fund guys bragging about a hall the choice of Storyteller is a big part of the film's problem David whose real life equivalent served as a technical adviser and has a cameo is depicted as nearly as big of a blank as his poor wife he's a nice guy who was just going about his business when Satan showed up in the form of ephra rather than a quick study who ditched his two-day jobs and within a matter of weeks was able B to manage a soon Tobe multi-million dollar business built on Beretta pistols and AK-47 shells bought on the cheap and shipped into war zones the best thing about wargs is the characterization of eframe as embodied by Hill this actor portrays Blobby sarcastic volatile men better than anyone since the late great Chris pen and he's terrific here using the character's squeaky laugh as an exclamation point at the end of a tense moment and letting us see the calculations happening in eph frame's Reptilian Brain by letting his eyes go cloudy there are moments where you can spot the exact moment when ephra decides to betray or destroy someone often the moment occurs when ephra is insisting that he's all about loyalty and Trust if War doogs had put eph frame at its Center it might have gotten closer to its apparent wish to be a scathing scori take on arms dealing during the war on terror half madap Comedy half expose at the very least it would have inoculated itself against claims that it's a safe film on a dangerous subject eph frame is a slobbish but confident con artist who trudges through life in baggy Leisure wear and expensive sunglasses puffing up his ego with money and guns and telling David I'm not pro war the war is happening this business is PR money at one point he even describes himself to an Iraqi as an ugly American frankly claiming a stereotype that he knows he embodies from head to toe you get the sense that ephra knows full well what he is but has decided not to worry about it a scenario that's considerably more chilling than all the scenes of David worrying that ephra has gone too far but is too good a friend to abandon every time ephra appears on screen the audience and the movie have to reckon with him but War Dogs chooses instead to hang on David to take his exculpatory narration at face value as if both Phillips and the audience are as gullible as is Phillips knowingly cites Good Fellas through various formal techniques chatty narration scary funny violence freeze frames to the point where you pretty much have to buy the idea that David is a 20-some 21 first century Henry Hill but War doogs doesn't have the Brava visuals and electrifying coldness of scorsi in gangster scumbag mode and you never get the sense as you do in the best narrated Scorsese films that the narrator is shading things to make himself seem more glamorous or less culpable in horror than he actually was as exemplified in the good Fell's scene where Hill calmly describes the ramifications of a mob foot soldier killing a waiter on a whim but the movie shows us close-ups of the character looking appalled and distressed wogs in contrast wants us to take David at face value as a nice guy who made a few mistakes and got in way over his head before coming to his senses but is still basically decent in the end he comes off as guilty mainly of loving and trusting his friend and there's hardly anything in the film to suggest that this might not be the whole story eph frame meanwhile comes across as more of an outrageous hot-tempered clown than a grubby Visionary Pig whose lack of education and refinement are eclipsed by a predator's cunning the film turns him into glorified comic relief so funny that he can't be properly frightening most of the characters in the first hangover seemed more disreputable and unpredictable than this guy and Philip seemed not to care if we like them as long as we found them funny and interesting here he wants us to like his slimy people too or at least the film wants us to like David and root for him to stay friends with ephra and win back is's love it's a brief in David's defense that sometimes plays as if it was written by David himself [Music]