War, Inc. Review

Messages: No particularly admirable characters. The lethal hired-killer hero says he went into assassination (originally for the CIA) because he thought the enemies would be bad guys, but they turned out to be innocent dissidents. He ultimately rebels, both against the U.S. government and against his corporate masters, but it's still violent. A spoiled young singer is a self-described "whore," even though viewers are asked to believe in her vulnerability and innocence underneath the sleaze. Though an Arab/Muslim land is being occupied in the war, viewers hear almost nothing about their true culture -- just superficial costumes, music, and accents. Evil-businessman caricatures and crazed-goon soldiers also prevail.

Violence: Lots of shooting, both in close-up execution-style assassinations and crowds being riddled with bullets on the battlefield. Sometimes bullets are even sprayed at civilians for "laughs." Many bomb/grenade/missile explosions. Hand-to-hand combat, martial-arts style fighting, and one character killed with a spike through the head (after his finger is bitten off). A quadriplegic is tortured with hot sauce in the eyes. A threatened decapitation.

Sex: No nudity, but much talk, mostly about the character of a young pop princess with Britney Spears attributes. She calls herself a "whore," dresses in revealing outfits, puts a live scorpion in her panties (writhing lasciviously as a boyfriend obligingly tries to remove it), and tries to seduce the much-older main character. There's talk of her making a possible sex video.

Language: Many uses of "f--k," "s--t," "bitch," and the like.

Consumerism: As part of their attempts to satirize the market economy, the filmmakers wallpaper scenes with billboards, URLs, and corporate logos and pay lip service to well-known fast-food chains and products. Of course, these in-your-face ads are meant to be distasteful rather than effective.

Drinking, drugs and smoking: Plenty of smoking, social drinking, and drunkenness. Hints that the Tamerlane soldiers are kept wired and violent through drugs.