Surprisingly enjoyable. It's actually remarkably realistic throughout - all of the chases, plot turns, CIA abusing their powers... UNTIL... SPOILERS













... the Brit loses out...  :'(

I josh. But it does do a good job with suspending your disbelief. Often, these films hinge on whether or not you can sink your natural sceptism and buy into the world in front of you. That's actually very easy to do. Reese Witherspoon does a good job as the girl next door who must still be loveable to us, even though she's two-timing the chaps.

I always enjoy the quirks in a script, and the competing understudies were great. Both Pine and Hardy had a lead guy in their 'taskforce', who were briefed to spy on the girl. It's a shame that they didn't play these characters up a bit more and that was maybe a missed opportunity. That said, there's plenty of chuckles and action to carry you along. I see it was written by guys with a heavy comedy background, and it's to their credit that this didn't feel like a comedy with action tacked on - it was very organic to the story. The paintball scene, in particular, stood out as fun.

The cinematography was interesting in that it looked gorgeous at times, whilst occasionally veering into way too colourful territory - a stark contrast to McG's incredibly bleak Terminator.

Not too shabby at all, really.

Positive reviews for both this AND Project X? Andrew, I'm not so sure I can trust your taste in movies haha This Means War was labeled as the worst movie so far of 2012. Can't say either way though because I havent seen it (nor have I seen Project X). But I remain skeptical in the mean time...

Quoted from albinopenguin This Means War was labeled as the worst movie so far of 2012.

Crikey! I could just be going soft... Perhaps I should've emphasised the caveat of checking the brain at the door! I haven't read the reviews, but I judge it only as a genre movie. For that, it's not too bad.

Give it a butchers and then send me your bank account details for reimbursement...

haha you totally redeemed yourself by posting a clip from fonejacker. my faith in your tastes has been restored haha

A Vancouver production, which was fun for me.  Knew a few of the actors in smaller parts and had even worked with a couple.  The Blarney Stone is an actual pub in Vancouver, and so on.

Relentlessly mediocre but never boring.  It's no Charlie's Angels (haha) but how bad can a film really be with three attractive actors in a light action-comedy?  The paintball scene was particularly funny, and there were some good lines and moments throughout.  You'd never guess McG was an established director; the scenes seemed very loose to me and good jokes were often offset by bad ones, limiting their effectiveness.

I'd pretty much agree with Andrew.  It is what it is and it's not at all unenjoyable.  

I pretty much agree with Andrew and Chris on this one.

An enjoyable movie with a few laughs along the way. Have to say that I'm still not sure about Tom Hardy in a comedy role, didn't feel comfortable IMO.

Also a nod to McG, he's redeemed himself a tiny bit from the Charlie's Angels movies...but I mean only a tiny bit. I really do hate those movies ;D

Found this one pretty bereft of chemistry.
Mc G is the wrong guy to balance genres.
He's a sledgehammer and this movie needed a surgeon.

The three leads are playing very beneath their skill sets.
The action sub plot is appallingly threadbare, even for a studio flick.
Interconnecting the two genres would've cinched the deal...

Something like... Witherspoon is somehow related to the villain.  
They both fall for her while investigating the lead.
A bet ensues... who can lay their pipe first?
And do it while pretending to be someone else so they don't blow their cover.

Then you can even play red herring with Witherspoon's "involvement".
She could be an innocent or not so innocent sibling of said villain, etc.

There. Now your romance, action and comedy are all interconnected.
Something that feels less like shoddy stitch work would've hooked me better.

E.D.

I can't say I enjoyed this film much. McG has never really done it for me as a director, and this film wasted a decent cast. Everything from the simplistic script to the slick, but no emotion, directing just fell flat.

Tom Hardy and Reese Witherspoon are much better than this film. I know the film is basically a romantic comedy, but they try to setup a villain, who then disappears for large chunks of the script as if they forgot about him. Then he just appears at the end so they can wrap up that plot thread.

If there was a positive, about this, I'd have to say it did move quick and never dragged. Beyond that, not a lot about this film worked for me.