Movie Review: THIS MEANS WAR (2012) Starring Reese Witherspoon, Tom Hardy and Chris Pine

It was the wife’s turn to pick the movie this weekend, and as you know that hasn’t gone to well in the past so, I decided to make things a little easier for her and gave her a choice of two movies I thought I would like. I knew which one she would pick but at least my idea was given a little thought. It was between Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and This Means War, the latter was her favoured choice and even she admitted forty five minutes in “this is a bit boring”.

Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Tom Hardy, Chris Pine and Chelsea Handler

The Plot

It’s simple really, Chuck (Tom Hardy) and FDR (Chris Pine) are the two most kick ass CIA agents on the go, their latest mission sees them in Hong Kong, China for what is a very hammy action sequence between them and International crime lord Heinrich (Til Schweiger). The hot shots botch the mission killing Heinrich’s brother whilst he escapes. Grounded and assigned to desk duty on their return to Virginia the pair start dating (not each other), little do they know that the girl Lauren (Reese Witherspoon) Chuck has met through an Internet service is the same girl FDR met in the local video store, the pair get into a very childish war with each other fighting for Lauren’s affections whilst also being hunted by Heinrich who wants revenge for his brother.

The Verdict

Far from exciting, This Means War was all a bit of a bore. What was I expecting? Well, nothing much really but with names like Reese Witherspoon and Tom Hardy involved I really was hoping that this wasn’t as bad as I’ve heard. A romantic comedy with a bit of action thrown into the mix, action which was laughable and not exciting unless your in Reese Witherspoon’s shoes.

Tom Hardy has gained somewhat of a kick ass reputation in Hollywood and I am a big fan, his efforts in Inception were second to none, Warrior won him the kick ass title and upcoming summer blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises looks to raise his profile even more. It puzzles me why actors of Witherspoon and Hardy’s calibre sign up for this garbage, surely it must be the pay day on offer, or maybe one of them is married to the director, who knows?

As far as story goes This Means War follows a very predictable pattern, Chuck and FDR (stupid name) meet and fall in love with the same girl, stage a battle to see who she likes best whilst in the background a pissed off International crime boss hunts them down for killing his brother, International crime boss exacts his revenge kidnapping Lauren who Chuck and FDR (not friends at this point) save, she picks her hero and the loser goes back to his estranged wife, brilliant right? No, sorry it wasn’t. This Means War is a predictable chick flick for people who don’t like action movies and my wife has been informed that I will be in charge of movie selection this weekend.

The Best Bit

Chuck is accused of maybe being a little on the boring side, so he decides to take Lauren paint balling for an afternoon date, being nervous with the paint ball gun Lauren accidentally shoots Chuck in the testicles, you see it coming from a mile off but Chuck's reaction is one that any guy can sympathise with.

The Music

Not bad actually considering the movie was pretty deplorable, This Means War carries a decent enough soundtrack which includes R&B artist Montell Jordan – This Is How We Do It.

Would I watch it again?

Nope no way, I think I’ll hang out for Tom Hardy in summer Blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises.

If you liked this movie then you may also be interested in The Ugly Truth, at least according to IMDB anyway. Need some serious manning up like I did after this movie? Then head over and see what I thought of Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds in Safe House.