Review of Charlie Wilson's War (2007) by Sean S — 14 May 2010

Probably one of the most enjoyable films about War you are ever likely to see "Charlie Wilson's War" has a great set of characters and a brilliant script which will keep you entertained for the whole film.

The script is brilliant capitalising Wilsons lifestyle and creating a playful atmosphere to begin with before contrasting it with the heavy duty themes that unfold after. The dialogue is extremely intelligant and very very funny and is the main focus point of the viewers enjoyment. The characters are interesting and fun to watch but they aren't fully developed which is partly due to the short running time but mostly is beacuase they wanted to glorify Wilson rather than showing him as a real person and he feals too fictionalised.

This is all put to the back of your mind as you watch though as Hanks cooly delivers his lines as you immediatly fall for him. He brings charisma and passion to Wilson and works perfectly with Phillip Seymour Hoffman who, in my opinion, steals the show with a hilarious and powerful performance which fully deserve the Oscar nom.

The directing is also of a high standard. Nichols has a great eye for landscapes which he shows off as he captures some truely beautiful landscapes. Everything isn't beautfiul though as he uses the archive footage brilliantly to remind the audience that this is a true story nomatter how light hearted the tone of the film is. One fault is that there is a real lack of tension throughout the film as every disequillibrium is solved very quickly but it's forgiven as the little events that happen are often hilarious.

Overall this is a very funny film with great performances and is well handled by Nichols and is an extremely enjoyable film.