War on Everyone Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.0

War on Everyone Blu-ray Movie Review

Including the audience?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 13, 2017

Corrupt cops wouldn’t seem to be a great premise upon which to build a comedy, which may be one reason War on Everyone builds up whatever humor quotient it has in fits and starts. This is the sort of film that revels in snark and a generally scabrous attitude, but which simply doesn’t have the actual consistent punchlines to deliver regular laughs. Things get off to a promising enough start, at least for those who prefer their comedy (like their coffee) black, with two men in black types in a 1970s era sedan chasing after a mime, who is running down the street in an obviously panicked fashion. One of the guys in the car tells the other guy he’s always wondered if a mime would make a sound if he were hit by a car, which may not be the gold standard of comedy but is at least marginally humorous. The two do in fact run smack into the unfortunate Marcel Marceau wannabe, leaving him badly injured on the street. They start foraging through a bag he was carrying, at which point a neighbor comes out and threatens to turn the hit and (didn’t) run guys into the police. It’s not exactly a shocker when the two pull badges out of their coat pockets and shout in unison, “We are the police!” The two guys are buddies named Terry Monroe (Alexander Skarsgård) and Bob Bolaño (Michael Peña), and (as should probably be expected) they don’t exactly have sterling reputations around their precinct, where their boss, Lieutenant Stanton (Paul Reiser, underutilized) gives them their “final warning” about shaping up or being forced to ship out. Terry is shown to be a hard drinking guy whose repeated mishaps with his car never seem to leave any permanent damage (including a shattered windshield from the mime incident which just disappears after it’s occurred), while Bob is at least ostensibly a bit more centered, with a family that is nonetheless on the dysfunctional side.

One has to wonder if the Chamber of Commerce or the police union in Albuquerque, New Mexico knew that War on Everyone was going to depict their city as a den of such iniquity, but the film simply goes with the concept that Terry and Bob have engineered their own reign of terror on the criminal class of the city, a locale that may still be licking its wounds from how it was depicted in Breaking Bad: The Complete Series (that’s a joke, in case it isn’t clear). The duo corners a supposed informant named Reggie (Malcolm Barrett), who in one of the film’s funnier throwaway lines asks the cops disbelievingly, “What am I? Huggy Bear?” Needless to say, Terry and Bob are about as far from Starsky and Hutch territory, despite Terry’s vintage vehicle.

Terry and Bob ply Reggie with some cocaine they’ve lifted off of that unfortunate mime in order to extract needed information, and the two seem to be on the hunt for even more riches. The route to the loot seems to lead straight to a foppish Brit named Lord James Mangan (Theo James), a supposed nobleman who is first seen shooting up in his stables. It’s obvious James is up to some kind of no good, aided by a traditionally brain dead acolyte named Birdwell (Caleb Landry Jones). The pieces seem to be in place for an at least reasonable farce of bad people doing despicable things, but writer-director John Michael McDonagh repeatedly goes off on kind of needless tangents that add nothing (or at least not much) to the comedic momentum. This includes side trips to Iceland (that’s not a typo) and an undue amount of time spent on Reggie’s personal belief system.

War on Everyone seems to want to ply a kind of Tarantino-esque quality, but the film simply doesn’t have Tarantino’s wit or style, and so instead tends to meander around pointless dialogue exchanges that are meant to be cheeky but which often come off as merely forced. The cast is quite game and at times surprisingly effective, but this is a film that could have used at least one even partially sympathetic main character. It’s more than possible to build a film around an anti-hero or even someone despicable, of course, but it’s hard to justify laughing at two people who are supposed to be serving and protecting, but who are both self serving narcissists out to protect themselves and without much else to recommend them.

Note: My colleague Brian Orndorf evidently liked War on Everyone even less than I did. You can read Brian's thoughts here.

War on Everyone Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

War on Everyone is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. I haven't been able to track down authoritative technical data on this shoot, but the transfer looks extremely sharp and well detailed almost all of the time, even when things have been graded rather aggressively, as in some of the blue tones added to the Iceland sequences (see screenshot 1). Quite a few other sequences utilize a yellow grading, which also doesn't seriously detract much if at all from general and fine detail levels. When not intentionally tweaked, the palette looks nicely natural and is generously saturated. Some of the close-ups offer really abundant fine detail (see screenshot 3). A few of the darker scenes, including some in various houses of ill repute (of one kind or another) don't offer a wealth of shadow detail, but otherwise this is a problem free presentation.

Note: Mini-rant ahead, so forewarned is forearmed. The upshot of what I'm about to share is that I'm an idiot (which is probably already self evident), but I wonder why Lionsgate among other labels packages its Blu-ray and DVD "combo platters" with the DVD being the easily accessible disc when the keepcase is opened and the Blu-ray tucked underneath the digital code redemption insert. I wasn't paying attention when I opened this release and just stuck in the available disc, and then was distressed to see all sorts of video anomalies like aliasing, not to mention a Dolby Digital soundtrack. Of course I instantly realized what had happened, but a request to labels: people buying Blu-rays (even if DVDs are included) are most likely going to want the easiest access to the Blu-ray.

War on Everyone Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

War on Everyone has a nicely boisterous DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 that provides some good immersion in sequences like the opening chase or even later when Terry's driving mishaps lead to a series of collisions. While the film is really more of a talk fest than an action adventure outing, something that tends to put the damper on really impressive surround sonics at times, occasional bursts of activity provide opportunities for some good LFE and discrete channelization of sound effects. Dialogue and an engaging score by Lorne Balfe are presented cleanly on this problem free track.

War on Everyone Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Everyone Sounds Off!: The Quirky Cast of War on Everyone (1080p; 6:59) is standard issue EPK fare with okay interviews and snippets from the film.

War on Everyone Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If Terry and Bob are examples of the general tenor and/or competency of the Albuquerque police department, it perhaps becomes easier to understand how Walter White got away with so much for so long (and, yes, that's another joke). This film has some engaging elements, including a rather likable cast, but the problem is virtually all of them are playing pretty unlikable characters. I'm not sure the sporadic laughs are enough to make up for the kind of smarmy subtext of two on the take cops who don't have many redeeming qualities. Technical merits are strong for those considering a purchase.