This Means War (2012)

Hey, this isn't Citizen Kane. But it's funny, the actors are all good, and even though the premise is pretty silly--two secret agent types pursuing the same woman--the writers milked the possibilities about as much as they could without getting mindlessly stupid. The principals don't try to assassinate each other, merely to undermine one another's efforts, and the story works. Also, it doesn't hurt in a Rom-Com that Reese Witherspoon looks gorgeous throughout--as I suppose do Chris Pine and Tom Hardy for those more inclined in that direction--and the supporting cast is equally charming, with Chelsea Handler and Abigail Spencer especially deserving of kudos. What's not to like?

Fmovies: Okay, critics, what the hell? I saw this movie at 7:30 at Movieland: A Bow Tie Cinema in Richmond, VA. Great theater, props! Anyways. The theater was packed. It was the biggest screen, too, but it was the only showing. If the audience reaction was anything to go on, this movie was hilarious. I certainly thought so. But not only that—it was a good movie!

Summary aside, this movie actually turned out to be one of my favorite romantic comedies and buddy comedies all in one. It was very fast-paced. It had the element of government agents, but also government agents that abuse their job's resources. There are 'bad guys' but it doesn't dominate the movie. The scenes with the bad guys start off with the preconception that they would be long and intense, but were actually only 60 seconds long and just a short break between the comedy and action. The funny parts—yes, they were funny. I was cracking up the entire time, and I don't do that often. Visually it looked amazing; watching on Blu-Ray will be spectacular. I, for one, will buy this on Blu-Ray. My roommate will thank me.

Yes, young people like myself will enjoy this movie, but it's also targeted for late twenties-late thirties people thinking about love and marriage. I saw a lot of older couples at the theaters and they were enjoying it just as much—they were laughing loudest, in fact! I'd give this movie a 9/10. Pure enjoyment.

So my issue: WTF Critics? You give this movie zero credit. Is it because of the actors? They're all great actors. Plot? Actually pretty good—somewhat predictable in hindsight but I'd still watch the movie again. Director? Supernatural and Nikita both have a fanbase, and aren't that bad with action or drama. If they actually watched the movies they wouldn't have rated it that low; I think they were going off plot summary. Back off, critics! When more people see this movie the ratings will go up! Rotten tomatoes said audience enjoyed it 71% so far, but opening day isn't even over yet. Critics give it 33%? Come on. (From tvcinema.tumblr.com (my blog) )

I went to go see this movie with two friends, Im a big fan of Tom Hardy and have seen all of his movies and other stuff. I... kinda liked the movie... it was kinda bad but I kinda liked it. Lets get a few things out the way. Editing was horrible, the entire opening looked like a trailer and the later scenes I was screaming "CUT!" at the movie. Acting is solid through out the movie although the movie really just centres around FDR and Laurens relationship because Tuck and her don't have any chemistry really. There are about... four fights, they use shaky cam and you cant tell what was happening, for some reason when FDR and Tuck fight its really short and Tuck takes most of the hits. There are a few good scenes in the movie but I didn't laugh that much apart from Tucks date scene that I found amusing as he guns down teenagers and man-handles others in a paint ball game.

Really, the best parts were in the trailers and thats really it, if you want Chris Pine watch "Star Trek", if you want Tom Hardy watch "Bronson" or "Warrior", Reese Witherspoon... I haven't seen any good movies with her in...

"This Means War" could have been a good movie but its to much of a RomCom that has horrible editing and choppy fight scenes. The action scenes are few and far between and generally meh except the Paintball scene that is in all the trailers.

This Means War fmovies. Director McG has many (many, many) haters, but I generally like his movies. I don't consider him a "misunderstood genius", nor anything similar; I just generally find his exuberant visual style and frantic energy entertaining. I found Charlie's Angels and its sequel amusing parodies of the action cinema; I liked Terminator Salvation for having found an interesting angle to the franchise; and We Are Marshall...well, that one was mediocre. Anyway, I can't defend McG with This Means War, his most recent film, because it ended up being truly horrible.

The most important problem from This Means War is its screenplay, which I found incredibly weak and predictable (if you don't guess during the first minutes which one of the two gallants will stay with the girl, you haven't seen any romantic comedy in your whole life). The humor lacks of any spontaneity, the jokes are terribly predictable, and the performances are pathetic, specially Reese Witherspoon's, which feels so false and studied that I hated her character even more than the two gallants.

The action scenes lack of any suspense or emotion. There are various fights, chases and explosions, but everything is so uninspired that I wouldn't be surprised if editors Nicolas De Toth and Jesse Driebusch made a confusion with the reels and included in this film scenes from Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Knight and Day, Killers, or any other deplorable "action romantic comedy".

It's easy to note that nobody that worked in This Means War put any effort to it, and that makes it a horrible film which I suggest you to avoid by any means.

I saw trailers for this in the cinema and considered going to see it. Thankfully I didn't waste £8 paying for a ticket. The premise for this seemed great- OK reminiscent of True Lies- but there seemed to be potential for comedy and drama. Potential that is sadly never realised. Tom Hardy and Chris Pine are both charming leads (Pine needs to stop doing that chewing with his mouth open thing)Reese Witherspoon is possibly a little old for this kind of role- or at least this kind of role with Hardy and Pine- but she plays the role well enough. The problem is that there is no plot to speak of, very little action and precious few laughs. The film is beautifully lit but the editing is horrible. It reminds the viewer of Quantum of Solace with its action sequences that could be memorable except the viewer can't see what is happening. It doesn't look a cheap film and the cast and premise could have made for something memorable but how could the end result be so unsatisfying. Vapid, bland, predictable and empty its like overdosing on cake icing because there is no cake underneath. All the way through I couldn't help wonder how so much could have gone wrong until as the end credits rolled I saw it was directed by McG . Nothing more to be said.

If you wanted to make a movie that was successful at the box office, you could plug the story lines of the top 25 movies for the last 10 years into a computer and have it generate a plot. It would probably come up with a new genre called the 'romantic action comedy'. It would probably come up with, 'This Means War'. I spent most of the movie trying to figure out who it was targeted for. First, no adult with a few functioning neurons will find the plot compelling. I doubt if women would find the romance unforgettable. I, therefore, concluded that the movie was targeted towards 15 year old boys out on their first dates. Yes, there are the obligatory action scenes with the required number of explosions and car chases, but this is mainly to wake up the 13-year-olds who fell asleep during the 'romantic' scenes. The comedy, and I am stretching the dictionary definition of that word here, comes mainly from the sexual remarks of Chelsea Handler and are directed at the same sleepy 13-year-olds.

It's too bad. I like Reese Witherspoon and, prior to this movie, I had concluded that she was never in a bad movie. Isn't she being offered any better roles than this? It is one of the few movies where you feel sorry for the guy who gets the girl. Actually, by that point in the movie, you really don't care. Yet, the sad truth, the very sad truth is that the movie will probably be a box office hit, a fact that will generate more movies in this genre and keep computer programmers employed for years to come.