I Declare War (2012)

I went into this with low expectations. I am glad I watched this. It was a great movie with an excellent cast. The special effects were good without being over the top. Just enough to add to the movie and not take anything away from it. This movie reminds me of many days spent in the woods with nothing much more than our imaginations and either toy guns, or sticks used for guns/rifles. Pine cones for grenades. You had to be hit with it for it to be considered a kill. We also never were quite as violent as the kids in this film. Although our language was probably just as bad if not worse. I don't think this movie compares to any others. It, to me, stands on it's on. Again, a very good movie. That is worth watching.

Doing a movie with kids is pretty difficult. Only thing that is supposed to be as difficult is handling pets/animals. But this really holds the premise and the promise it is giving the viewer. The actors are young, but they are all really good. Thankfully the script is helping a lot, by not pulling punches and having those kids do things that you wouldn't expect (or maybe you would).One of the twists is the "fantasy" bit, that you will grow accustomed to pretty quickly. It helps elevate the movie to another level too. Are kids different and what makes them act that way? Thankfully the movie is not blaming something in particular. If your fantasy and your character trades allow it, you will go a certain direction. Really nice movie with a very good story

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.

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.