War Dogs a Dizzying Spin on Factual Events

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War Dogs on Blu-ray

If you hear an alarm bell in the back of your mind when you read the phrase "Based on a True Story," listen to it.

Todd Phillips (THE HANGOVER) directs this somewhat comedic "true story" of David Packouz (MILES TELLER), a massage therapist disenchanted with his life who runs into an old friend, Efraim Diveroli (JONAH HILL), and ends up on the ride of his life in the high-paying world of selling weapons to the U.S. Government.

That's really all you need to know about the plot. Jonah Hill does his best Jonah Hill impression in playing Efraim, while the story unfolds from Packouz's point of view -- perhaps due to the fact that the real life Packouz only endured house arrest while the real life Diveroli served actual time, all for selling Chinese-made ammunition to the U.S. Military during a time when there was an embargo against Chinese-made weapons.

Thin plot aside (as well as deviations from reality; you can Google up their company, AEY, and find several news stories about the incident in question), WAR DOGS sucks you in and takes you on a dizzying ride through the affluence of Los Vegas to the most war-torn regions on Earth, all to a soundtrack of classic rock and roll. Packouz is given a sympathetic profile to Diveroli's more underhanded scheming and outright thievery.

Bonus features on this Blu-ray release include three "behind the scenes" features and explanations on how the Pentagon defense contract bidding worked during the time period of the film. This release also comes with an Ultraviolet digital version of the film for your online library.

Grade: 
3.5 / 5.0