WAR ON EVERYONE (2016)

6/20/18 - War on Everyone (2016) - 5-/10

A bizarre tongue in cheek dirty cop romp that leans into its bitter sardonic wit, sometimes to its detriment. Filled with cynical untouchable pastiches of people, but allows for some forlorn ethos and beyond the pale judicial wickedness. It is fun, with a wiley and varied cast, but it so often revels in its camp instead of shaking it off for something higher or more developed.

Like a Christopher McQuarrie directed 70’s-esque exploitation, with a 90’s hardcore sensibility, all from a “brother of” Shane Black script. From the beginning, you will ask yourself “What am I watching?”. It is an over-the-top pseudo-lampooning of buddy cop films, but there is a distinct underlying darkness to it all. It stays fun even as if fluctuates its mood so wildly. Skarsgård and Peña have good chemistry and play off the bizarre array of character actors surrounding them well, while keeping everyone at arm/gun’s length.

It never blasts into the stratosphere like you hope it will. In fact, it dances so bizarrely around its style, tone, and substance that it “sine waves” its way above and below the good line. I would still say it was worth a watch for an off-beat tale of cops who just don’t give a sh*t.