War Dogs is a true story brought to the big screen by Todd Phillips. The movie centers around two childhood buddies who team up and start stealing money from the U.S. Government. Efraim Diveroli (Jonah Hill) reaches out to his childhood friend David Packouz (Miles Teller) and offers him a chance to make a lot of money by becoming an international arms dealer. What he didn't tell him was that the job comes with a lot of dangerous missions and a lot of sketchy business deals.
The film centers mostly around David Packouz. Miles Teller was great in this movie. Time and time again, he proves that he is one of the most talented actors in Hollywood. As the movie progressed, I got attached to his character and I kept rooting for the best possible outcome. To me, that proves great character development.
The movie's second main character was "The Boss" Efraim Diveroli. Jonah Hill outshines Miles Teller in almost every scene they had together. He was a total jerk, but there was something about his performance that intrigued me and left me wanting more. He provided comedic relief (mainly due to his profanity and absurd laugh) throughout the two hour movie while Miles Teller was usually the more serious performer.
Bradley Cooper plays a quick but impactful role as he portrays a very dangerous foreign arms dealer, Henry Girard. Bradley Cooper does his best with what he was given, but his character was barely in the movie and I didn't care as much as I wanted to. That disappointed me because I'm a big Bradley Cooper fan. Although not a big part of the movie, he was the movie's main antagonist in a way because he did mess everything up for the War Dogs.
Ana de Armas portrays Miles Tellers love interest, Iz. While not very important in this story, I did enjoy her presence on screen. Her acting abilities were not superb but they got the job done, and she had a couple of funny scenes. I like her character because she gave David Packouz (Miles Teller) motivation to go out into the field and make some money, even though she had no clue what he was really doing.
The movie was almost two hours long, but it felt a bit longer than that. It started off fast and then slowed down in the second act. There were some scenes during the second act that I wished were done smoother and faster because whenever the movie would slow down, It would take me out of the general plot and disinterest me. All in all, that was my biggest problem with this movie.
In the end, War Dogs is worth the watch. It's very quirky at times but It's also a very fun time with a few great action sequences and a lot of laughs.
Verdict: 9/10
