Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.5

I Declare War Blu-ray Movie Review

Lord of the Guys

Reviewed by Michael Reuben November 15, 2013

The independent Canadian production I Declare War is about a kids' game of "Capture the Flag" told entirely from the point of view of the pre-adolescent boys (and one girl) playing it, but that description barely begins to capture the pleasures of this unique and wonderful film. Writer/director Jason Lapeyre and co-director Robert Wilson treat their characters with utmost sincerity: their passions, their fears, their commitment to the game (or not, as the case may be), their longings and the potency of imaginations that turn makeshift wooden contraptions and water balloons into bazookas, grenades and M-16s. Movies routinely create the illusion of battle; so why not use their tricks to externalize what these kids see with their mind's eyes? Therein lies the subversive visual strategy of I Declare War. No one's getting shot or blown up, but the film shows you what the kids imagine. If the weapons were real, they'd all be dead.

Because powerful emotions are unleashed and some of the "play" turns serious, I Declare War has drawn comparison to William Golding's classic novel, Lord of the Flies (adapted for film in 1963 by Peter Brook and in 1990 by Harry Hook), but I Declare War is a different animal. Golding's allegory played out among children cut off from civilization who descended into savagery, whereas Lapeyre's and Wilson's film occurs in the shadow of normal society, with home and hearth awaiting everyone's return. Variations of "let's get together after the war for video games and pizza" are a running gag, and several characters are obsessed with their lives and reputations outside the game. Far from being a social "reboot" like Lord of the Flies, where the essentially savage nature of man is revealed, I Declare War becomes a microcosm of the social order in which these youngsters live their daily lives—but bigger, grander and with pyrotechnics.

I Declare War joins a game in progress and takes place entirely outdoors. A set of hand-drawn illustrations lays out the simple rules:

1. The Generals pick the teams and a base. You cannot move your base.
2. When you are shot, you are paralyzed until you count off ten steamboats.
3. When you are hit with a grenade, you are DEAD. Go home.
4. You win when your General captures the other team's flag.

The two Generals are P.K. Sullivan (Gage Munroe), a pint-size master strategist who has won every war he's ever fought and has the flag collection to prove it; and Quinn Wilson (Aidan Gouveia), taller, almost handsome, and determined to be the first to break P.K.'s winning streak. P.K. has the backing of his best friend, Paul Kwon (Siam Yu), but Quinn has to rely on the less thoughtful duo of Roy Frost (Alex Cardillo) and Trevor Sikorski (Dyson Fyke), a kind of miniature Laurel and Hardy who keep getting into one fine mess after another, because Frost can't stop bouncing around like a puppy dog, while the heavy-set Sikorski glares at him and repeatedly says, "Shut up!"

Each team has a loose cannon in the great tradition of rogue soldiers like Tom Berenger's Barnes in Platoon or Sean Penn's Meserve in Casualties of War. P.K.'s team has Joker (Spencer Howes), whose pent-up hostility guarantees him a great future as either a fierce business competitor or a serial killer. In his imagination, his eyes shoot laserbeams that terrorize and disintegrate his enemies (which means basically everyone), and he's not above aiming them at small, defenseless animals. (In his commentary, the film's producer says he has similar fantasies involving machine gun turrets in his car.) Quinn has a grenade carrier named Skinner (Michael Friend), a seething pile of resentment with his own agenda that doesn't emerge until Quinn is incapacitated and Skinner begins leading the team according to his own set of rules.

An X-factor in the enterprise is Jessica (Mackenzie Munro), who insinuates herself into the contest despite being repeatedly told that "girls can't play". She replies that she, too, has skills and then proceeds to become a kind of Junior-Miss Mata Hari. It's not hard to spot that she has a crush on one of the Generals and is taking the long way round to impress him. Her double-dealing adds an element of uncertainty to their battle plans for which neither of them has accounted.

Several other characters are part of the teams attempting, with varying degrees of success, to duck and cover through the trees, but the important point is how Lapeyre and Wilson stage the various skirmishes. We don't see the crudely fashioned homemade weaponry and hear the kids' voices imitating gunfire and explosions. Instead, we see them holding the real thing, just as they imagine they're doing; the flash and smoke are real, and so is the roar of gunfire and the concussion of explosions. (The extras show the elaborate stunt training and effects rigging.) Sometimes the blood is pretty convincing as well.

The effect is both disconcerting and surreal, as kids under twelve aim lethal weapons at each other and fire with abandon, even glee. But isn't that what war games are supposed to be all about? Some real injuries are inflicted during the course of I Declare War, but they're from real objects that have nothing to do with daydreams. Some of the injuries are accidental, while others are caused deliberately when it turns out that "Capture the Flag" isn't the only game being played.

One of the lessons that the young players of I Declare War begin to learn is that every social encounter is rife with subtext and personal agendas. P.K. and Quinn may have arrived for this showndown with the sole intention of picking the best team and seizing each other's flag, but some of their team members don't care about any of that. One is there to meet new people, another to pursue an imaginary relationship, and a third to exact a terrible revenge for a previous wrong. These purposes will eventually wreck the strategic planning of the Generals and undermine the simplicity of the four Rules. The kids may not yet realize it, but they're experiencing a preview of adult life. Whenever you join a group or enter a workplace, what you see on the surface is never the whole story. The people around you have their own view of things and their own goals to achieve, and you may be no more than a means to their end—or an obstacle to be removed. War, as General Sherman famously observed, is hell. But as Sartre would later point out, hell is simply other people.

I Declare War Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

I Declare War was shot on Red by Ray Dumas, whose extensive experience as a steadicam operator on such films as the dance-themed Take the Lead and the documentary Anvil: The Story of Anvil was undoubtedly useful preparation for following the various members of the warring teams through the wooded and irregular landscapes where their adventures take them. Drafthouse's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray (the last that will be distributed by Image/RLJ Entertainment) offers a superb rendering of the sharp and detailed Red footage, with a complete lack of video noise and exquisite detail that renders all the leaves, twigs, stones and dirt paths with clarity and precision. The clothing looks like the real thing, and the makeup hasn't been applied to prettify the young actors but simply to maintain continuity as they get roughed up, scratched and dirtied. The result is to keep them looking real, which enhances the naturalistic performances.

There are no dark scenes, but dark patches occur in the forest, and these benefit from solid black levels. The color palette is natural without overstatement, with the forest's green dominating most scenes. Drafthouse is never stingy with bandwidth, and the average bitrate of 30.00 Mbps (yes, that really is the BDInfo reading) is consistent with its commitment to quality presentations on Blu-ray.

I Declare War Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The sound mix for I Declare War, presented in a choice of lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 and lossy DD 5.1, is as witty and imaginative as the visual design. Like the visuals, the audio combines fantasy and reality without any attempt to distinguish between them. One mintue the kids are chattering about school and video games, and the next they're exchanging gunfire and tossing grenades that sound just like the real thing, because that's how they hear them. At various moments, you can hear distant weapons fire or helicopters, as if this were a Vietnam film and the woods had suddenly morphed into a rice paddy. As long as the game is active, so are the players' imaginations, and it's their soundtrack.

The dialogue is remarkably clear, considering the relative inexperience of most of the players. (Alex Cardillo's Frost, in particular, is a chatterbox, and Cardillo delivers his breathless dialogue flawlessly.) The score by the composing team of Eric Cadesky and Nick Dyer cleverly manages to echo many different war movies without ever actually copying specific themes.

I Declare War Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentaries


• With Directors Robert Wilson and Jason Lapeyre and Producer Lewin Webb: The two Canadian directors and their English producer rib each other constantly, especially when they lapse into watching the film and forget to comment. Along the way, they do manage to recall the logistics of filming, discuss the themes and relate some of the festival reactions.


• With Directors Robert Wilson and Jason Lapeyre and Stars Gage Munroe, Michael Friend, Aidan Gouveia, Andy Reid, Spencer Howes, Alex Cardillo, Dyson Fyke and Eric Hanson: The two directors wisely hang back and only occasionally prompt their young cast members, who hardly need any encouragement. Listening to their enthusiastic recollections makes it easy to understand why the performances feel so fresh and immediate.



• Building a Battle Featurette (1080p; 1.78:1; 23:38): Hosted by Eric Hanson, who is initially unrecognizable until he acquires "Kenney's" camouflage make-up, this cheerful, occasionally tongue-in-cheek EPK has the same "let's do it!" spirit as the film. Much of it revolves around stunt rehearsal and weapons training for the film's biggest battle sequence.



• Soldiers and Actors Featurette (1080p; 1.78:1; 22:42): Each of the young actors gets an opportunity to describe his character.



• The Ultimate I Declare War Capture the Flag Paintball Challenge (1080i; 1.78:1; 2:17): As a promo for the theatrical release of the film, actor Gage Munroe (already much taller than when he played P.K.) and Alamo Drafthouse founder Tim League host a paintball tournament. Both admit they've never played before.



• Trailers
• I Declare War
• The FP
• Bullhead
• Klown
• The Ambassador
• Miami Connection
• Wake in Fright
• Wrong
• Pieta (480i)
• Drafthouse Alliance Stinger (this also plays at startup, where it can be skipped with the chapter forward button)



• Booklet: In keeping with the spirit of the opening titles, the insert for this Drafthouse release contains a hand-lettered version of the four rules of Capture the Flag and kid-style renderings of the various weapons, along with stills from the film. Disc credits appear on the last page.

I Declare War Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I Declare War is precisely the kind of off-beat film that Drafthouse specializes in finding and supporting, and it is one of the best from them I've had the pleasure to review. It's not like anything else I've ever seen, and yet LaPeyre, Wilson and their precocious cast make the basic premise feel so obvious and natural that one wonders why no one thought of it before. Highly recommended.