This satire was not critical of the Army, but the replacement of the Army with a company who is not accountable or even legally liable for the horrors brought to the third world. As a member of the US military I have no qualms with Cusack lambasting Academi (Formally and more famously known as Blackwater Security).The violence that some disagree with is most likely a response to; "The Iraqi Government revoked Blackwater's license to operate in Iraq on September 17, 2007 after an incident involving a shootout that took place in Nisour Square which caused the death of seventeen Iraqis." So lets just try to give the movie another chance by assuming that Tamerlane=Blackwater.

John Cusack?s (who I always enjoy watching) War, Inc. takes a somewhat unfair and certainly imbalanced look at the Iraq War, specifically the role of Halliburton in providing the ways of means of conducting it. There is something like a plot layered over the protest with Cusack revising his ?Grosse Pointe Blank? assassin?s role and with a more grown-up than we have seen her Hillary Duff as his daughter / Southeast Asian pop star. The actions of the characters are just a vehicle to revisit the film?s main point that the same contractor paid to destroy the country is also being paid to rebuild it. Some of the sight gags are memorable particularly the tanks sporting Golden Palace.com billboards and an kick-line featuring amputees showcasing the fictional Halliburton?s latest prostheses. The gags are original although the material is not; I was reminded of the George Carlin Vietnam-era routines about largely the same topic. If you are all to the left of Dennis Kucinich you might want to skip it.

I bought this film on DVD mainly because John Cusack was in it and I'll normally give anything he's in at least one viewing, after watching it I think it deserves more than it's current 5.8 rating on IMDb, I've watched it 3 times since buying it and always enjoy it. The film balances satire and action well and never seems to drag. Cusack is perfect for the role as the traveling hit-man, in fact all the actors chosen(even Duff) play their parts well, Kingsley and Joan Cusack stand out in their roles too. Why this film hasn't been seen by more people I don't know, especially when you compare it to most of the recent 'hit' films. If you want an easy to watch(but clever) satire/comedy with good action scenes you could do far worse then pick up a copy of War Inc.

"The first war to be 100% outsourced." Dan Ackroyd's line says it all. This is a hard to describe film; comedy, satire, action, screwball. It reminded once or twice of Dr. Strangelove, especially so in the scenes featuring Ben Kingsley (who did a remarkable job I think). I had no particular expectations of this film, though I am a big John Cusack fan, so I just let the movie wash over me. And as a result I was quite entertained. The political satire is painfully accurate and quite damning of the US military-business complex. The sub-plots were somewhat predictable but the final interweaving of story lines made them all worthwhile. I can understand why this film was not terribly popular in the US, but for the rest of the world, it is a timely tale.