"The Way of War" is a bizarre experience. With a paper thin revenge plot and a bunch of monosyllabic tough guys with guns, you'd think it would be an entertaining violence romp to numb your mind on sleepless nights or while you're on the treadmill at the gym. Sure, we get some of that, but then out of nowhere a monosyllabic tough guy will suddenly get in touch with his inner Confucius and break into a sentimental monologue capped with some fortune cookie wisdom paraphrased from Sun Tzu's 5th century BC handbook "Art of War".
Yeah I guess the filmmakers didn't want to shell out for the actual right to use the actual title so they sneakily, cleverly swapped out the first word. (Note to self: resume working on your romcom screenplay: "Catcher in the Rhubarb".)
Next, let's take a look at our hero. I can't help but be reminded of the great Eric Draven in "The Crow" who had a penchant of walking into firefights completely unarmed, mocking the gunmen with epic lines like "Take your best shot, Funboy, you got me dead bang." But here in "The Way of War" our hero doesn't have any supernatural powers of bullet immunity. He just stupidly walks into gunfire unarmed (literally standing wide open in the middle of a grocery store) until he gets shot and acts like "Ouch!! That was really uncalled for!!"
Next let's look at the story itself. No, actually let's not. Let's just put down the DVD and walk away slowly, which is what Cuba Gooding should've done with this script.
Yeah I guess the filmmakers didn't want to shell out for the actual right to use the actual title so they sneakily, cleverly swapped out the first word. (Note to self: resume working on your romcom screenplay: "Catcher in the Rhubarb".)
Next, let's take a look at our hero. I can't help but be reminded of the great Eric Draven in "The Crow" who had a penchant of walking into firefights completely unarmed, mocking the gunmen with epic lines like "Take your best shot, Funboy, you got me dead bang." But here in "The Way of War" our hero doesn't have any supernatural powers of bullet immunity. He just stupidly walks into gunfire unarmed (literally standing wide open in the middle of a grocery store) until he gets shot and acts like "Ouch!! That was really uncalled for!!"
Next let's look at the story itself. No, actually let's not. Let's just put down the DVD and walk away slowly, which is what Cuba Gooding should've done with this script.