War, Inc. is a dark political satire film starring John Cusack and Hilary Duff and directed by Joshua Seftel. Cusack also wrote and produced the film. A working title of the film was Brand Hauser: Stuff Happens. The story is partly inspired by Naomi Klein's article "Baghdad Year Zero". War, Inc. is thought to be a spiritual successor or informal sequel to the 1997 film Grosse Pointe Blank. Both films are black comedies with similar styles and themes, and both films star John Cusack as an assassin and Joan Cusack as his assistant. In an interview, Joan Cusack said, "I think, in a way, [War, Inc.] was a Grosse Point Blank 2." War, Inc. was filmed in Bulgaria beginning in late October 2006. Marisa Tomei and Cusack's sister Joan co-star in the film. It was released to theatres in Los Angeles and Manhattan, New York in the United States on May 23, 2008. As of June of 2008, it has been expanded to several more theaters around the U.S due to popular demand. War Inc. is set in the future, when the fictional desert country of Turaqistan is torn by a riot after a private corporation, Tamerlane, owned by the former Vice President of the United States (Dan Aykroyd), has taken over the whole state. Brand Hauser (John Cusack), a hit man who suppresses his emotions by gobbling down hot sauce, is hired by the corporation's head to kill the CEO of their competitors. To do this, he has to have a cover-up which is in the form of a gala wedding by the outrageous Central Asian Superstar Yonica Babyyeah (Hilary Duff). Everything changes when the ruthless killer finds himself head-over-heels in love with a sexy reporter Natalie Hegalhuzen (Marisa Tomei). War, Inc. received generally negative reviews from critics. As of May 24, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 26% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 34 reviews — with the consensus that the film "attempts to satirize the military industrial complex, but more often than not it misses its target." Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 34 out of 100, based on 12 reviews. The film opened in limited release in the United States on May 23, 2008 and grossed an estimated $36,600 in 2 theaters its opening weekend. It was second in largest per theatre gross behind Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Because of popular demand, it was released to several more theaters around the U.S. The film will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on October 14, 2008 in the United States. |