January 23

On a no school day because of the frigid temps, I got to watch the Genre-ary film early this morning. I pulled up HBO Max and watched a film starring Alexander Skarsgård and Michael Peña called War on Everybody.

Skarsgård and Peña are crooked cops that seem to flaunt authority at every turn. After returning from yet another suspension, Terry Monroe (Skarsgård) and Bob Bolaño (Peña) discover a heist that is about to be done. This led them to all kinds of trouble with two powerful and dangerous criminals (Theo James, Caleb Landry Jones).

During the investigation, Skarsgård is paired up with Tessa Thompson, and they are one of the best parts of the film. Thompson’s character, Jackie, fits right in with the damaged Terry Monroe. Some of their scenes together are fun and loose.

I think Skarsgård and Peña do a great job of creating these extremely unlikable characters and make them someone whom we want to root for. They are horrible people, but yet they are strangely charming and people you want to see do well. Anti-heroes have been around for years, but these two almost do not fit into that category. The skill of these tow actors is why the characters work so well.

The story is fairly skimpy. The two villains are cardboard cutouts. The action is, at best, okay. This film succeeds or fails on the strength of its lead actors. That is a good thing for this movie.