With some clever lines, War Inc., directed by Joshua Seftel, should have been a winner. But with so much disrespect for Iraqis throughout, antihero Brand Hauser (played by John Cusack) plays the fool. Initial credits establish the central premise that war in the future is primarily a bonanza for giant corporations, who take over the fighting from regular armies because governments are their regional subsidiaries. Tamerlane, the corporation in the film, implants chips in its subjects to control them. Walken (played by Ben Kingsley) is the American viceroy of Turaqistan. CIA agent Hauser has been hired by former Vice President (played by Dan Aykroid) to assassinate the oil minister, Omar Sharif (played by Lubomir Neikov), who wants his country to profit by cutting out Tamerlane. If there is a real plot in the midst of all the senseless violence, it is the impending marriage of Middle Eastern pop star Yonica Babyyeah (played by Hilary Duff) and the son of a warlord and Hauser’s rescue of kidnapped journalist Natalie Hegalhuzen (played by Marisa Tomei) that provide fleeting cinematic tension. MH
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