Set in New Mexico, War On Everyone is the story of a pair of corrupt police officers. Terry Monroe (Alexander Skarsgard) is an act on impulse type of guy who tends to think with his fists and has been know to have a drink or two in his time. Along with his partner Bob Bolaño (Michael Pena) the more stable of the two, if there is such a thing in the partnership, they lie and cheat their way through the day in order to get what they need and do what they want with the bonus being that they may actually catch some criminals and uphold the law along the way on the off chance. It really is a case of bad cop, worse cop and needless to say they are not flavour of the week with their exasperated Lieutenant, Gerry Stanton (Paul Reiser) who is trying his best to bring them inline without much success so they are on their final warning about their antics when they come across a potential theft being planned which seems to be linked to some of their local underworld contacts working for a new player in town. As their investigation gathers momentum so does the body count but when blackmail and framing are part of your daily routine you are bound to run into somebody just as dangerous as you are so this leads them to a showdown with the ever so British James Mangan (Theo James) acting like the lord of the manor and his creepy Alex DeLarge like, henchman Birdwell (Caleb Landry Jones).

Brought to us by John Michael McDonagh who also wrote and directed Cavalry and The Guard, he works again with Chris Clark, Flora Fernandez-Marengo and Elizabeth Eves so the similar dark themes are present once more as all the characters in the movie are flawed, some more so than others. With the use of 1970’s style vehicles, complete with power slides and wheel spins there is a very Streets Of San Francisco feel about some scenes and I kept expecting to hear Sabotage by the Beastie Boys kick in but essentially it’s a buddy cop movie so, although humorous in parts it suffered from a lack of originality which is a disappointment given the directors previous efforts.

The lack of chemistry between the two leads was also a big factor, I never bought the relationship as genuine and the friendship didn’t have the feel of a real camaraderie built up by working together, especially considering it should be stronger then most bonds given the fine line they are both walking where you need to know your friend has your back at all times. Couple this with the fact that a lot of the comedy felt forced and crude for the sake of it the film making had a very lazy feel about it.

Although Skarsgard was the more interesting of the movies characters and is the most memorable part of the film, all others are either parodies of similar genre characters or just down right forgettable. Even the dialogue which was very intellectual at times, felt like it was trying to match a speech from a Quentin Tarantino movie and instead of enhancing the characters it felt alien to the general tone of the rest of the film which is more madcap and off kilter. Despite the fact that they are not likable characters there is enough humanity left in the duo to do the right thing and with Skarsgard in particular there is a redemption in the fact that he is a good Samaritan at heart behind the tough, self hating, exterior even if his interaction is more like an owner to pet rather than human to human.

I was hoping for much more when I first seen the trailer and, although it does have its moments, it’s lack of cohesion and the omission of any real memorable moments make it a cast away watch. Yes, you will get a few laughs at some scenes but the writing and acting talent involved are capable of so much more.

DJ Speaks Rating: 4.5 Out Of 10  

© Darren Jones 2016