I Declare War

This is a difficult one. Great movie with great performances by the kids. But a tough one as the kids are playing with guns. Not real guns, they use sticks for that and use rocks as hand grenades, but through their eyes they are real. I hope that the recent violence and gun shootings don't put anyone off going to see this. It doesn't glorify violence in any way, in fact it gives an anti-violent stance. It reminded me of this generations Stand By Me meets Lord of the Flies meets War Games meets Son of Rambow. I really hope that it finds an audience. It deserves to. It made Ain't It Cool News' Top 10 list of 2012. It'll take some creative marketing to get people to watch it but in 10 years time we'll look back at it they way we look at Stand By Me now.

7.1 of 10. Far more entertaining than the average war film, and far more insightful. It's tempting, and would be too easy, to compare it to Lord of the Flies given the ages fo the combatants. It is a more realistic and more likely version of Lord of the Flies, something that could easily happen in bigger town or distant suburb, maybe South Park in the 6th or 7th grade or Kids (1995) 3 years earlier and a 100 miles north of New York City. Part of the enjoyment is that it does set itself apart from most of the common teen/child story lines.

Outside of some annoyances involving actions and characters that seem to be stretching reality or purely for sex appeal to naive tweens (the power bra wearing 13ish girl), it immerses and continues to keep you guessing as to the outcome. It's not a film to watch for the action of war as much as the mystery and intrigue, as if a spy game more than a war game.

It's summer time. Neighborhood kids play war in the woods. The guns look real and they seem to fire real bullets in what looks like real warfare. It's imaginary and it's a game. The rivalry heats up and the game turns into something more dangerous.

This is a Canadian indie. It's not really a kids' movie. It's closer to Lord of the Flies with one big difference. The premise of the movie is showing realistic gun fights with their imaginary game. It's an interesting idea, but it does need some work. The movie needs to show the difference between imaginary and reality. There are rules to this game. It needs to explain them. With more clarity, the story behind the concept could be smoothed out.

Caught a screening of "I Declare War" at CIFF. What a tremendous film! It really captured what it felt like to have a best friend during childhood (the sense of loyalty and exclusiveness). Those were the most intense relationships of my life, especially when they came to an end. I thought the casting was just right and the performances outstanding (some of the best child acting I've seen, the characters of PK and Skinner were particularly memorable). "I Declare War" also struck a great balance between lighthearted and more serious content. I was glad to see that the narrative did not descend into savagery (in the manner of "Lord of the Flies"). The humor added much. I absolutely loved the imaginary dialogue scenes between Jess and Quinn. All in all, the script was very tight and well thought out. Keep a look out for its theatrical release!

If anyone compares this to stand by me I'd really like to know what they see as the comparison other than it has kids and one of them wears a red shirt that looks like the kid from stand by me shirt. The kids remind me more of south park characters with their style of foul mouth and mean demeanor. Yes there was swearing in stand by me, but it had actual context of bonding and horsing around. You had a sense the kids liked each other. This movie not so much. It's more of a south park effect. It lacks real character connection and any sort of philosophical point. In some sense I think they may have been better off running with more imagination of the war thing, almost like a pans labyrinth, than what they did. The characters were very cliché and over the top. I don't blame the actors for it, I think the kids did a great job, more the script they were handed. It makes the movie hard to watch at points, because the script writing just doesn't hold much reality to how kids really act, which I think was a real strength in stand by me. I wouldn't watch this with smaller kids. But if you are bored and got nothing else to do it's OK.