OllieSuave-007 This is another heartfelt drama starring Elijah Wood, where he plays the son of Vietnam War vet Stephen Simmons (Kevin Costner) who must deal with his son's rivalries with other children and his own personal and employment problems.The title "The War" is a bit misleading for this movie, as it shows more how fighting in a war can affect a person. The consequences that follow battling in a war and, more so, the consequences of one's own personal issues are dramatically depicted here. While I do not remember much from this movie, I do recall being impressed from the acting, especially that of young Elijah Wood. Just like an earlier film he appeared in, Paradise, this movie will make you forget your troubles and inner-demons, have courage to deal with your problems and treasure your values.Costner and Wood make a great father-son team. A good little film with a mixture of humor, drama and uplifting moments, and with a pretty good-paced plot and a touching story.Grade B+

KyaBakwaasHai This Movie has pleasantly amazed me at how good it is, and has booked its place amongst my favorite movies list of all time. The Movie has great and realistic performances from Costner and Elijah Woods. The War in the Title is the Vietnam war which is the backdrop of the movie, but with that backdrop the real war is between the kids due to their poor lives in the 70s.It's a movie that is aimed at kids, but is also equally relevant to adults. The Message that this movie gives is beyond words, its one of those movies that you would love to waste your 2 hours on.I would recommend this movie to everyone.

Neil Welch The War is a low-key period and mood piece, with some depth. It gives Kevin Costner something useful to do with his propensity to take himself seriously (often too seriously), but the film belongs to the young Elijah Wood.Stu (Wood) and Lidia (Lexi Randall) are the children of Stephen (Costner) and Lois (Mare Winningham) Simmons. They are a poor family, aspiring to better themselves, but their ambitions have been obstructed by the baggage Stephen has brought back from Vietnam. The two children take themselves off to build a treehouse. In the course of this, they end up in conflict with the poor white trash Lipnicki children from the neighbouring scrapyard.This slight premise actually generates a story which is gripping, constantly holds the attention, and which draws parallels between the war Stephen has returned from, the war which develops between the Simmonds and Lipnicki children, and which subtly poses the question of what is worth fighting for.All the actors here give wonderful performances, without exception, but the children are particularly good across the board. And, having said that, it is not unfair to single out Elijah Wood. At the age of 13, he does not show the promise which led to later high profile roles: rather, that promise is already fully realised here. He is magnificent.

sawatson The title is both apt and, from a marketing point of view, unfortunate; The first time I saw this movie was in an almost empty theatre. The only other viewers were adolescent males drawn by the title looking for explosions and action. Again because of the misleading title an appropriate audience was absent, except perhaps for me. There are at least 3 wars represented in this film, but none of them involves screen action of the sort desired by those young men.This could have been SUCH a good movie if it had displayed the sort of integrity it advocates. If you believe in doing the right thing for its own sake - that humanity is redeemed daily by the billions who get up and do their best to respect the needs of others when making each choice - then this movie will resonate deeply with your own internal war to "do the right thing". It begins by showing clearly how ordinary people can succeed heroically or fail tragically, why it matters and how it differs from "the American Dream" of material reward. To a large extent this plays out with satisfying complexity, but unfortunately yields in two points (which I may not name for fear of "spoiling" the outcome) to the American desire both to equate justice with material reward and to regard Tinkerbell / Angels / magic as meaningful agency in the world. Those flaws aside, this movie is very, very well done. Everyone should see it.