War Dogs (2016)

Todd Phillips brings the comedic elements of his repertoire for which he is well known to this real life tale of two twenty-something school friends who made millions from selling dodgy weapons supplies to the US military.

Jonah Hill is on typical form as Efraim, a brash over the top unashamed young man with a hilarious hyena laugh who often comes across as a slightly older version of Superbad's (2007) Seth. His partner in crime, Miles Teller's David, is a much more down to earth (at least initially) massage therapist who lives with his wife (a suitably reliable Ana de Armas) quite contentedly, but without question wants from more from his life.

That 'more' comes bulldozing into his life in the form of Ephraim, a former school friend now businessman who picks off the 'crumbs' of military arms deals and makes huge amounts of money from it. Once he brings David onside, the pair of them go from strength to strength, and lie to lie, bagging bigger and bigger deals before it predictably blows up in their faces.

Efraim's mantra of 'the money is made between the lines' is shockingly apparent; the ease at which the two of them go into business closing lucrative deals on weaponry that's been lying in various warehouses across the world is terrifying, and one of War Dogs' shortcomings is in its insistence on relying too heavily on the comedic output of the tale and the characters. At times you wish Phillips had taken an approach more akin to Andrew Niccol's Lord of War (2005) which approached similar subject matter with more straight-faced candour.

However, there's much to enjoy in War Dogs. Despite the fact we may have seen this Jonah Hill performance before, there's no question it's efficacious here; Ephraim's brash and bold approach to making money is the driving force behind his company's success, smashing through anything and anyone in his way. It's' indelible that some of the comedic elements work well, and at times it feels like Phillips is injecting them just to take the edge off Ephraim's frequently outrageous behaviour, because if there's one thing that War Dogs does well (and it does several) is that it communicates to us that these appalling people and events do exist; if through the prism of our own laughter.

So although at times it certainly feels like there's a more serious approach to this story that would have been more convincing to see, Phillips knows his core audience and ensures that he brings back his Hangover (2009) fans to the party.

As for the rest of us, War Dogs moves at such a pace that any qualms you may have are only temporary and you're given no time to linger on them. Its near two hour run time absolutely flies by and despite its rapidity, the audience is comfortably able to keep up with proceedings. The technical jargon that is thrust upon us is offered in a way that reminds you of Adam McKay's The Big Short (2015) and although War Dogs isn't perhaps on the same level (if only because of how the subject matter of that directly affected so many watching) it engages, entertains, and makes you laugh about a true story that is quite appallingly real. 7.7/10