MOVIE REVIEW: Charlie Wilson’s War

War! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing! Except produce an entertaining true life account of how one man managed to find time in between drinking and having sex with Julia Roberts to change one.

Charlie Wilson's War is set back in the 1980s during the conflict between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union, in which US Congressman Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks) decided to intervene and help the Afghan freedom fighters win the war with the help of CIA ‘tached wonder Gust Avrakotos (Philip Seymour Hoffman).

Although the brief description above gives off an impression of a hard-hitting political drama, it’s actually fairly upbeat affair for the majority of the film – bar a few scenes of mass slaughtering. Setting the tone is Hanks himself, trundling along with a charm and charisma that is more akin to his early 90s work than some of his more varied - weird wigs and moustaches - choices he made over the past few years and the film is all the better for it. In fact we think the plot for Charlie Wilson's War could have been about anything and it still would be an enjoyable film based solely on Hank’s interpretation of the character.

Surprisingly this isn’t the stand-out performance of the show. That award goes to Mr Phillip Seymour Hoffman. From the introduction of Gust Avrakotos screaming at his boss you can’t take your eyes off of him. He steals every scene that he’s in and brings to the role such wry humour that in fact, (warning: cringeworthy pun approaching), we just wanted to see more Hoffman.

Julia Roberts brings her lips in for a short while to talk, but her scenes don’t really add up to much and her character ends up a bit underdeveloped. The film just seemed like an arena for Hanks and Hoffman to bat lines off of each other, not to say the story isn’t interesting, but these two actors are at the top of their game here and they really make this the entertaining film that it is and it’s hard to imagine it being as watchable with anyone else in the leads.

As the plot moves forward some of the more dramatic scenes don’t come across particularly moving and we found it odd how it went from what seemed like stock footage to film footage in the battle scenes. It took us out of the film for those brief moments when it did occur. Tonally it makes a few shifts especially in the middle when Charlie visits a refugee camp but it’s an important scene for motivation and character development and Hanks plays out the scene with enough dramatic weight without making it seem like he’s changed into another character which you’d expect from the masterful actor who made a volleyball seem like a potential best supporting actor at the Oscars.

We do recommend this film though. It's fun, has depth and it is a very interesting account of a true life event. The acting is superb and even if you aren’t familiar with the subject it’s still a really enjoyable film which we doubt will leave people exiting the cinema disappointed.

At the very least it’ll make you thirsty for a whisky on the rocks.

[story by David A. Scarborough]