The Way of War (2009) User Reviews

An hour and a half I'll never get back........

[jusdafide · 2/10 · 8 November 2008]

This is one of the worst movies I've seen in a long time. Besides the fact that it didn't make much sense, it seemed to move along terribly slow (makes standing in line at the DMV seem fun), barely made any connections between characters at all, and the directing and production were really, really bad, to the point that one scene actually jumped to another without any transition; just a quick cut while a character was in mid sentence.

Having seen most of Cuba Gooding Jr's movies, I was surprised that after the last few movies he did, which were watchable, he stooped to a new low with another low budget movie.

There are better things to do than waste an hour and a half of your life on this pointless waste of film. Don't believe me? Go ahead, watch it. I'm sure within the first thirty minutes you'll want your money and your time back..... I know I do.

Boring

[FFAxDAVID · 3/10 · 16 November 2008]

Saw an early version of this and must admit was pretty boring. I had high hopes from trailers and Cuba being in the lead role, but after 40 mins of almost walking out on it i managed to stick it to the end,then wish i had followed my instincts and actually had walked out on it when it finally had ended.

The acting is OK,the plot had potential, but the end result was just a tedious waste of space that i cannot really recommend even to die hard fans of Cuba Gooding Jr.

I would like to say that with a few tweaks in the plot it still maybe watchable, but it needs a major plot change to even be that good, so am not hopeful at all and have given it a generous rating of 3

Unsure of what I just saw!

[DjMathias_Productions · 3/10 · 8 November 2008]

I just watched this Screener and was very disappointed. The plot and direction this movie took was all over the place. The actors have all done great work in the past but I was not able to identify with them at all. The director must not have been available at editing because it was lagging and at times I looked at my watch waiting for a story to surface. The story had potential but in my eyes it fell short in so many ways. I will understand why this is not picked up by many theaters. I don't mean to be harsh. There are some good points. Shots of D.C are done very well. The soundtrack was decent. Although in a few scenes the music does not mix with what you see. I hope everyone involved in this movie enjoyed themselves because I will be very shocked if it has a long shelf life.

The scale doesn't go low enough.

[drixsboy · 1/10 · 18 February 2009]

I wouldn't pick a copy of this off the street, I'd kick it into a gutter. Absolute rubbish. If possible I'd give it a negative out of ten. If you do watch this, steal it off the internet, it's not worth even renting. Cuba has never been so dull and boring. The plot line was slow, and never peaked. Flashbacks never fully described the situations. Many questions were left unanswered. Dialogue could have been better composed by a 10th grade theater class for downs children. The was absolutely no positive attribute that I can think of, except when the credits came up and I was able to confirm that the film really did just suck. If I weren't sick and stuck at home. I'd have walked out.

CUBA, what were you THINKING!?!?!

[hotmale1834 · 1/10 · 13 February 2009]

Boring, slow, stupid plot.... WORST MOVIE I have seen in a long long time! Cuba must have been drunk while reading the script to have accepted that role, or perhaps he has a horrible agent. First Look Studios? That's the last time I will ever watch a movie that they distribute or promote! I was confused for most of the movie, and there is no way in hell I am going to watch that movie again to try to figure it out. I understood where the movie was going but I refused to believe it could be that lame, I was waiting and waiting for the movie to start.. then the credits began to roll and I got excited because that meant the movie was over!

Worst movie since Mr. Magoo!

[wyteboy2455 · 1/10 · 15 February 2009]

What the hell just happened? I sat through this movie waiting for something to happen and nothing. I am almost tempted to ask for my dollar back from Red Box for the hour and a half that I lost and will never get back. Who wrote this script and please tell me they no longer work in this field. I am normally a big fan of Cuba Gooding Jr. but his acting along with everyone else's was horrible and they should all be ashamed for having anything to do with this crap and taking people's money for watching this. And why was this movie rated R, have they changed the rating system to include boring and confusing into the R rating now. There was no violence in this movie, if there was can someone please show me where.

do you hear the barking? it's this movie (a dog)

[Mike-5332 · 1/10 · 26 August 2009]

I can't believe Cuba would be in this. I have enjoyed him in other roles, but this movie is pathetic. Has he sunk this low to accept such a role? After seeing him in movies like Tuskegee Airmen, Jerry Maguire, and Pearl Harbor (to name a few), I expected a lot more here. The only saving grace was getting to see Clarence Williams III (Linc in original Mod Squad TV series). J. K. Simmons is normally a good actor, but there was nothing to work with here. There was not enough of a cohesive plot to go around though. Don't bother watching this one. The dialog was random and nonsensical. Everyone wanted to talk in hushed tones and mysterious, incomplete thoughts. I'm glad I only wasted a $1 renting this one.

Its a rarity that i don't finish a film..but this one was SOOooooo bad!

[twomoonsdesign · 1/10 · 12 July 2009]

I rented this film from a Redbox mainly because I like Cuba Gooding Jr. I must admit that this is the first film since Howard the Duck many years ago that I didn't finish. I left after about 45 minutes as I found it way too slow, uninvolved, poorly edited, terribly written and boring. It is one of the worst movies I've ever seen and unless it got substantially better, I wholeheartedly recommend against this movie, even if you are a fan of the lead actor. IIt wasn't just bad...it was horrible. I even have made bets that my fellow movie-loving friends wont be able to sit through it. Maybe on another day when I want to punish myself Ill rent it again...just to have a feeling of my tolerance level. Avoid!

A very slooooowww movie....

[chaos-92 · 1/10 · 17 February 2009]

I'll start by saying I like much of what Cuba Gooding JR. has done but I think the storyline blows. I found myself watching the time tick by to see if it was almost over. The movie was painfully slow with little reward at the end for waiting for the story to better unravel. The plot is very confusing much of the way through this flick.

Originality is another factor. Movies similar to this have been done before and with much better story lines. The Bourne trilogy is an example of that. The Way of War doesn't offer anything near that level of action though.

The music was off. I don't feel that it did a good job keeping up with the storyline and I had some issues with the subtitles. Sometimes I'll turn them on and go back over dialog that is too difficult to make out. At least during the early part of the movie, the subtitles were grossly off their mark. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 seconds to a minute! I think Cuba does a great job acting the part, but it doesn't save the movie. My grandma could write better scripts then this! Comon Cuba!!!!!

Cuba Gooding Jr. Deceived Us, A Waste of Time

[coconutmonkey123 · 2/10 · 15 March 2009]

An absolute waste of an hour and half, that I will never get back. A darn shame. Instead I could've watched paint dry or watch my dog chase squirrels in the backyard. I expected this confusing and poorly put together movie to be good due to the fact it starred Cuba Gooding Jr. It also had some impressive role players in the film, yet they couldn't get it done. Just absolutely lame. The movie kept flashing back and forth between the past and present. The indicators it was a flashback weren't very good at all. They wanted you to feel for David Wolfe, Gooding Jr.'s character, and connect with him the way you do with, say Jason Bourne. But you just don't, this kind of knock of Bourne-in-a-sense character was just pathetic. Save yourselves don't watch this atrocity.

Yes its true, it may be the worst movie of all time

[tcumming · 20 August 2011]

Pick up a DVD copy of this movie then send it to your enemy. A confusing dragged out plot including a weak attempt at romance. Flaccid military action lead by an old man trying to pass for 21. The writer(s) considers themselves to be wise in the way of war since they read Sun Tzu's The Art of War (or maybe just read a summary on Wikipedia).

An old man at a grocery store suddenly gets hauled into the plot from outer space it seems, becoming a murderer, arsonist, doctor, philosopher, friend and accomplice all somewhat randomly.

I don't know what this movie was supposed to be about. Suffice to say it didn't really deliver the message all that well.

Possibly the greatest movie about 9/11 your ever gonna see

[martin-1921 · 10/10 · 16 November 2008]

Possibly the greatest movie about 9/11 your ever gonna see. Cuba Gooding Jnr Oscar material. The best acting I have seen for ages. You may need to watch it twice...maybe three...just keep watching. I have never been so confused...mind boggled...intrigued...completely and fully satisfied, since Warren Beatty in the Parralax View , Dustin and Redford in All the Presidents Men the spirit Pakulla lives on in this Tremendous Brilliant movie. This movie is what makes independent cinema what it is...Maverik. Cuba Gooding Jnr takes a drive with Libyan Taxi Driver Samir to the prophetic sounds of Marvin Gayes classic intercity blues. This movie and the coming of Obama to the Whitehouse is I think a prelude to the impending truth that will be a true 9/11 enquiry.

Good But Should've Been Great

[jasonblackmore · 6/10 · 15 November 2008]

I saw this film a few days ago and found it totally mesmerising without quite knowing why.

The pace is remarkably slow (in a good way) for such a short film making it seem longer than its 80 minutes, and the content is subtly tense and brooding with occasional injections of taught action.

What I found disappointing was just how difficult it was to pin down what was motivating most of the characters and what they were actually doing. Timeline jumps were unhelpful and unnecessary as well.

There's a real bombshell dropped at the end which explains a lot, but I didn't see that as justification enough for spending most of the film wondering what the hell was going on.

Overall though I'd say this was a good, absorbing watch, but would've benefited greatly from more plot development and a lot more clarity.

Makes no sense

[p-stepien · 1/10 · 11 June 2012]

Cuba Gooding Jr stoops to a new low with his role in "The Way of War". This low budget flick deals with the fall of a hero, one as pointless and without sense as the career of Cuba Gooding Jr. The plot makes absolutely no sense as it trots along at a snails pace and fails to develop characters or motivation, nonsensically jumping from scene to scene with abrupt and chaotic flashbacks completing the badness.

The story itself has something to do with a special operative, who after killing the Ace of Spades of global terrorism, is blacklisted by the federal government with a death warrant to his name. Exactly why and what for is unclear to me, but the movie just doesn't really make much sense. Drop all intent to watch "Way of War" and until anyone says otherwise treat the name Cuba Gooding Jr on the cover as a warning sign.

Just gotta to love scenes where special ops stand in the open and don't duck for cover to avoid intense gunfire...

No, You Can't Buy My Oscar...

[loogenhausen · 30 November 2011]

I'm like a battered wife when it comes to Cuba Gooding movies. I want to believe he can change, that he can be good in movies again. Instead, I get punched in the face for my troubles. This movie is so unbelievably boring, I kept checking my pulse instead of my watch. I didn't think it could get any worse than the howlingly bad Shadowboxer and the cringe-inducing Snow Dogs, but apparently it can and it did. Oh, did it ever... Even the awesome J.K. Simmons and a cameo from Bobby Lashley do absolutely nothing to keep your interest. The kicker is the thing isn't even a full hour and a half long and it still feels like a damn epoch has passed once it finally ends. The movie features some nonsense about Cuba Gooding's character being betrayed on a covert mission and then coming back to D.C. for some revenge on the blah blah blah if you even care about what's going on by that point you're either the director or you only see two movies a year, including this one. Cuba's Detroit Lions-like streak of choosing craptastic movies continues. At this point, I think he's actually trying to suck this bad.

One of the worst movies

[asenkulak · 1/10 · 9 September 2009]

This movie is really one of the worst movie I have ever seen lately. Really I am very sad for my time that I spent for watching this crap. If you care about the comments of other people do not watch this one. This is my first comment and I am writing this to save your time people. I do not know where to start but first of all this movie is classified Action but this is not an action movie at all. I wish I could write something nice because people made a movie and sure they wanted it to be good. But this one is totally disappointment. Very bad story, bad acting, awful action scenes.

Last but not least if your time is valuable do not watch it guys.

I can sit through anything,.. but it was hard.

[joburocks · 1/10 · 18 March 2009]

I think Cuba is great and I will still go to see anything with his name on it, but god I hope he picks some decent movies soon. Right from the first seen I am thinking OK.. is this movie serious or some kind of spoof comedy? Bad acting, editing, sound work, effects, etc.. well it was obviously low budget, but I mean like cmon when a guy gets shot don't have him just duck behind a wall, make him get shot ffs.

storyline had potential but it was told all screwy. Dialog had some clever bits but I think you would have to be military personal to catch anything.

all in all I gave this a 1 out of 10 as a complete waste of 2 hours of life that I will never get back. I am surprised I had anything positive to say about it.

So many holes in the plot. This must have been a who you know .. friend of a friend type thing to even get this movie on a disc.

If you ever want to see it do it now because in 6 months you will never hear of this movie again or probably even have access to it.

Few movies are as bad as this one.

[zenasray · 1/10 · 25 March 2009]

Stupid, stupid, stupid. Please clean the toilet bowl, visit your mother-in-law or just take a nap; just don't see this movie! This movie is so bad from beginning to end you will regret watching it for the rest of your life. Plot makes no sense, the director must have been on drugs and the musical score was so poorly matched it was painful to listen to. I only rented it because of Cuba, never again, he must be really hard up to agree to do this piece of junk. J.K. Simmons, how could you be any part of this fiasco, after Juno and Spiderman, you are smarter then that. The sets were horrible, the acting pathetic and what was the deal with the metal bracelet? No action, no laughs, no suspense and no point. Save yourself, run away from this movie.

I "bought" this movie because of Cuba... So waste of money

[eauebb · 1/10 · 23 March 2009]

This movie is terrible. It took me 1.5 hrs to finish it, with suffer. I started to realize that it is a waste of money since the 15th minute.

To Cuba, you made your bad decision to star on a film like this.

If there is (-10) score, I would vote it.

This is the second movie I made the wrong decision to watch. The first one was "Gabriel". If you have watched this movie, I can tell this one is no difference.

Importantly, this is not an action movie. It is something I can't really explain or even tell about.

OMG!!!!! I wanna scream!!!

on top of the plot issues, the camera work sucks too!

[imdb-com-565 · 1/10 · 28 August 2009]

I had to stop watching this film 1/2 way through. For some reason, they thought that using a cameraman with Parkinson's disease would be a good idea.

Come on Hollywood! Get with it! People don't want to look at the equivalent of camcorder movies, but pay big bucks for it! Hell, we get even better shots *from* home movies.

What's wrong with you people?! Are you all high?

No one wants to see the camera moving all over the place. Use a tripod for crying out loud! It's call *professionalism*.

Of course, with the comments about the plot of this movie, I suppose this camera work isn't a big surprise....

Move over, "Plan Nine From Outer Space"

[chuck-543 · 1/10 · 26 April 2011]

The amazing thing about this truly terrible movie is not that it was actually made. The amazing thing is that before it was made, dozens of people with at least average intelligence read the script and approved of it.

This piece of absolute garbage is wrong from start to finish. Not one line of dialog makes any sense at all. There is no real storyline. No plot. No nothing. The only sensible reason for it to have been made in the first place is that everyone involved must have lost a bet, or were looking for a tax write-off.

That being said, this cloud might have a silver lining. Copies of it should be distributed to every film school, with a simple message: "Don't do this, ever."

It was all right

[Bob_the_Hobo · 6/10 · 17 December 2010]

Netflix instant play, midnight. What else can you ask for? Cuba's playing a Military Recon type of guy this time, alongside J.K. Simmons, Lance Reddick, and Clarence Williams in supporting roles. There's your usual hints of a global conspiracy and Cuba has to stop it, going crazy as the film progresses. We have a cheesy romance and a few confusing flashbacks besides.

It was enjoyable for a mind-numbing hour and a half, not much else. Cuba's movies are like that nowadays. He does a better acting job here than say Lies and Illusions, but it's a far, far cry from Shadowboxer.

I found the music to be surprisingly good for a straight-to-video action flick. The cinematography is a bit grainy but otherwise fine. The start credits were bland but fast. Sets and costumes were believable.

Don't go in looking for too much but "The Way of War" was a watchable DTV actioner, if you're not looking for too much in way of quality.

COMPLETE waste of time!

[mmorgan-22 · 1/10 · 7 August 2012]

The "action scenes" are stupid, boring, obnoxiously unrealistic. Any real soldier would laugh them to scorn. Clearly no one involved in the movie had any understanding of urban tactics and procedure.

This movie's half-hearted attempts at appearing "deep" come off as pretentious, pseudo-intellectual drivel.

The romantic interest is poorly developed, and there is really nothing sexy about this film.

This is simply the worst movie I have seen in years. The plot is scant, incoherent, truly stupid. The promise of cool action is just a lie.

In short: plodding, boring, unsatisfying. I want my time back!

Imagine a superhero movie where the hero's super power is being stupid

[rooprect · 12 March 2019]

"The Way of War" is a bizarre experience. With a paper thin revenge plot and a bunch of monosyllabic tough guys with guns, you'd think it would be an entertaining violence romp to numb your mind on sleepless nights or while you're on the treadmill at the gym. Sure, we get some of that, but then out of nowhere a monosyllabic tough guy will suddenly get in touch with his inner Confucius and break into a sentimental monologue capped with some fortune cookie wisdom paraphrased from Sun Tzu's 5th century BC handbook "Art of War".

Yeah I guess the filmmakers didn't want to shell out for the actual right to use the actual title so they sneakily, cleverly swapped out the first word. (Note to self: resume working on your romcom screenplay: "Catcher in the Rhubarb".)

Next, let's take a look at our hero. I can't help but be reminded of the great Eric Draven in "The Crow" who had a penchant of walking into firefights completely unarmed, mocking the gunmen with epic lines like "Take your best shot, Funboy, you got me dead bang." But here in "The Way of War" our hero doesn't have any supernatural powers of bullet immunity. He just stupidly walks into gunfire unarmed (literally standing wide open in the middle of a grocery store) until he gets shot and acts like "Ouch!! That was really uncalled for!!"

Next let's look at the story itself. No, actually let's not. Let's just put down the DVD and walk away slowly, which is what Cuba Gooding should've done with this script.

I should have believed the other reviewers....

[innocuous · 1/10 · 8 March 2010]

This is an awful movie. There's no originality (unless being incomprehensible is considered original), there's no action, and it looks like it was made on a budget of $50K.

Let's start with the most fundamental problem: being confusing. I truly have no idea what this movie is about. The movie is about 50% flashbacks (and not the illuminating kind, either) that just serve to confuse. The US Secretary of Defense apparently hangs around at illegal fighting exhibitions and nobody notices. (In fact, it looks as if he is the ONLY one attending the fights.) The whole plot (if there is one) is just a mess.

The other big problem is how cheap the film looks. It looks like it was shot in an old warehouse that serves as a bar, a secret fight club, a terrorist hide-out and makeshift hospital in the middle east. Weapons and weapon-handling are crappy, the fight scenes are pretty much non-existent, but when there are some fights, they are truly limp.

Just bad, bad, bad. Not worth a moment of your time.