Review of Charlie Wilson's War (2007) by M N — 03 Feb 2014

After watching The Master last night to honor Philip Seymour Hoffman, I thought to myself, hey, what the fuck, let's take another look at a movie that he is well known for his performance in. So I decided that I would take a crack at a movie I seriously overlooked when it was new, Charlie Wilson's War.

Tom Hanks takes the role of Charlie Wilson, who is a fun, easy going, partying U.S Congress man. It's the 1980's, and the Soviet Union is bringing relentless violence to Afghanistan. At this time, Afghanistan does not have the money or resources to fight back, while the Soviets are much more advanced in their military and weaponry. Charlie Wilson, a minor congress man, decides he wants to play in the big pond. He begins to work on the case, and starts by upping the budget for Covert Ops from 5 to 10 million. Even doing that is crazy, but soon enough he needs way more money for this operation than he originally intended. He's joined by CIA official Gust (Hoffman), who helps develop the whole thing with Wilson. Wilson may need to go to dangerous lengths to secure another countries safety, even if it means putting guns into everyone's hands.

Director Mike Nichols really found a great way to tell this story. It sounds like a boring, serious, subject, but Charlie Wilson's War comes off as a biting political comedy. Hell, it's even slightly satirical, what with the irony involved, and the image of America so bolded throughout the film. For a movie that never sounded all that interesting to me, It was a lot of fun. Even though the film isn't anything amazing in the visual category, it really doesn't need to be. Charlie Wilson's War depends solely on the charismatic performances of it's actors, great characters, and it's very well written screenplay. The whole movie depends on character interaction, and the screenplay delivers wit, drama, and excellence in spades. It's a component of the movie that really surprised me.

Tom Hanks isn't at his very best here, but the charisma he has is all the doctor ordered when it comes to portraying a guy like Charlie Wilson. He's a fun, easy guy, that knows how to persuade people and have a good time. Then there's Gust, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, who is a complete scene stealer. While there's humor from everybody involved, Gust is a character that brings ultra comedic relief, thanks to a damn awesome performance from Hoffman.

The only things I can think of that count as problems, is yeah it's not the most visual film out there. Again it's not really necessary, but it's enough to be satisfied with. The action sequences featuring rocket launchers, attacks, and the choppers are all pretty poor, but these were not stand out bits of the movie, so it's not a big deal. The message of 'America!' may be a bit heavy handed, but then again, this could play into the idea of it being a satirical political drama/comedy. It's a surprisingly entertaining movie about a story not so striking. When any filmmaker can take a decent story and turn it into an awesome one, they always deserve a fist bump of some variation.

Charlie Wilson's War is another true story of war politics, that is taken to the next level thanks to great execution. The writing is sharp, in a great political drama/comedy flooding with charisma and style.