Capsule Film Review: War Dogs (2016)

War brings pain and misery, but few fortunate individuals can always expect to make profit out of it. An example could be found in protagonist of 2016 film War Dogs. Protagonist, played by Miles Teller, is David Pakouz, failed masseur who in 2005 joins his old friend Efraim Diveroli (played by Jonah Hill) in arms trade. Their company, although relatively small, thrives on US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and increasing need for new guns and ammunition. Pakouz and Diveroli make great fortune, but the greed leads them to make increasingly complex, riskier deals on the other side of legality. Todd Phillips, director best known for The Hangover, tries to mix black humour and some important socio-political commentary, taking De Palma’s Scarface and Scorsese’s Goodfellas as inspiration. Comparisons to those classics, however, are devastating to this film, which also suffers from terribly miscast Teller.

RATING: 4/10