War Games: At the End of the Day (2011)

I thought that War Games was one of those really nice surprises. Its one of those films that you end up catching by chance that turns out to be a nasty, cool little movie. Its about some kids who end up in the wrong place at the wrong time and get messed with by the wrong people. It's kind of similar to pretty much every movie like that, that you have ever seen, except what I thought was cool is that the film creates this really cool atmosphere, and really shows the beauty of the nature of the wilderness that the kids have gone to. Its kinda strange that this nasty stuff is happening in such a beautiful setting. Most of the characters are pretty generic, cardboard cutouts, but the actors do a good job with them, and keep you interested in their fates. I think on the whole, War Games works best when it catches you unaware, one of those films that lets you drift into it, and suddenly it's got you, and I love finding films like this.

I read some reviews before I watched the movie and they were so-so. The movie starts not too bad, but the negative attitude is annoying. (good acting at least) The few air-soft scenes are well made but very sparse.When the "real" action starts, the character always pick the worst possible option. Vicarious embarrassment at it's finest. I had to force myself through the movie, as I wanted to see whether it would eventually get any better. It didn't.The "good ones" miss their shots within arms length, the one girl cuddles with the captured one instead of saving her and just sits around...To sum it up... one of the worst and most stupid movies i've ever seen. The two points go to the camera-work, which is pretty good.

Do not judge the book by the cover! This movie may look awesome and seem awesome, but it's far from good. Basically this movie is in the genre "Teenagers that goes into the woods and everybody gets killed". Don't get me wrong, this genre is awesome if you can make it look awesome. Take "Friday the 13th" for example, the best movie ever in this category. The only thing that interested me about this movie was the plot... people playing air-soft and it turns into a real war. Everything else didn't work out at all! There isn't even a reason for the war to take place. I can point out tons of epic fails in this movie, not like regular fails that all movies got, but fails that is so obvious. After 15 minutes i could already tell which person that was going to make it the longest and die last.When it comes to the actors.. meh, the actors was fine I guess. It is more the characters and how the movie was from start to end that ruined the whole experience. But I can't say that I'm disappointed. Usually when there is a unknown director and actors it will turn into sh**!

War Games has clearly 'borrowed' it's central themes and story from several films that have gone before it. Despite this it's hard not to like it, because it has been executed so well here once more. The loose hand-held camera work and the gritty low key performances from it's cast make the film dark and believable. It shows that by casting good actors and setting your story in an unfamiliar place, there is still a lot of fun to be had in the cat n mouse genre. The film has been scored really well, and it uses the music well throughout, with some it's most effective moments set to it's thumping soundtrack. The film ends on a cliffhanger of sorts, and although I enjoyed the film I don't think it warrants a sequel and I hope that Alema moves on to a new projects and doesn't try to franchise this.