Was dogs

Movie
German title	Was dogs
Original title	Was dogs
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	2016
length	114 minutes
Age rating	FSK 12
Rod
Director	Todd Phillips
script	Stephen Chin , ; Todd Phillips, ; Jason Smilovic
production	Bradley Cooper , ; Mark Gordon , ; Todd Phillips
music	Cliff Martinez
camera	Lawrence Sher
cut	Jeff Groth
occupation
	Jonah Hill : Efraim Diveroli; Miles Teller : David Packouz; Ana de Armas : Iz; JB Blanc : Bashkim; Bradley Cooper : Henry Girard; Barry Livingston : Army Bureaucrat; Kevin Pollak : Ralph Slutzky; Eddie Jemison : Hilldale Home Manager; David Packouz : singer in "Hilldale Home"; Patrick St. Esprit : Phillip Santos; Wallace Langham : Vegas X Supplier;

War Dogs is a film by Todd Phillips from the year 2016 . The script, written by Phillips, Jason Smilovic, and Stephen Chin , is based on true events and uses an article by Guy Lawson from Rolling Stone magazine as a model. The film shows the leading actors Jonah Hill and Miles Teller as arms dealers who unexpectedly receive an order from the US government to supply the military in Afghanistan with weapons.

The film had its premiere on August 3, 2016 in New York City, the official release was on August 19. It started in Germany on September 29, 2016.

action

David Packouz lives in Miami with his girlfriend Iz and works as a medical masseur. When Iz becomes pregnant, David wants to improve his income. So it comes in handy that his old school friend Efraim Diveroli offers him the opportunity to join his arms trading company AEY . Efraim explains to David that the US government has recently put all procurement contracts out to tender on a website . In addition to the large armaments contracts, there are enough smaller tenders to which small companies can apply.

Their first test is a load of Berettas , which after a change in the law can no longer be delivered directly from Italy to Iraq. As a result, Efraim and David smuggle their delivery from Amman , where it is stuck, to Baghdad by land. After this initial success, their business grows and reaches a new dimension when they win an armaments contract for Afghanistan worth $ 300 million. The Afghan armed forces are to be equipped with 100 million rounds of AK-47 ammunition. To stand up to Pentagon scrutiny , they falsified their bookkeeping and bank receipts from the past three years. Since their existing logistical infrastructure is not sufficient for an order of this size, they need the help of the international arms dealer Henry Girard, who is on the terror list and is therefore not allowed to do business with the US government himself. Girard gives the young entrepreneurs access to Albanian stocks from the Cold War era , which should actually be disposed of because of Albania's NATO accession negotiations. When David arrives in Albania to organize the transport of the ammunition by cargo aircraft, he finds out that the ammunition comes from Chinese production, which the Pentagon would not accept because of an embargo against China. Efraim has the saving idea: With the help of an Albanian packaging manufacturer, they have the ammunition repacked from the metal and wooden boxes in neutral, much lighter plastic and cardboard packaging, which also means they earn millions more in the form of lower transport costs. Then Efraim learns that Girard earns more than expected from the business and tries, despite David's protest, to push Girard out of the business. Then David's Albanian liaison man Bashkim disappears without a trace, and Girard has David kidnapped and beaten up, and threatens him at gunpoint. David then travels back to Miami, because he wants to get off and Efraim to pay him off. In the meantime, however, the latter has destroyed David's copy of her partner contract, so that David stands empty and has a dispute with Ephraim. He is reconciled with his wife, who had left him in the meantime when she had to find out what business he was secretly doing, and works again as a masseur.

In the meantime, the Albanian packaging manufacturer is reporting it to the US authorities because Efraim has still not paid him. The FBI sends Ralph Slutzky, who gave AEY start-up assistance with financial injections, wired to a listening device as a "mediator" to David and Efraim, who provide the investigators with the necessary evidence. The two are arrested and sentenced - Ephraim to four years in prison, David to seven months of house arrest. Officially, the matter is viewed as a "case study" of the armaments contract award process. Finally, David is called to a meeting by Girard. He apologizes for the kidnapping in Albania and thanks David for not mentioning him in his confession. When David asks him about the fate of Bashkim, Girard hands him a suitcase full of money from his share in the Afghanistan business with the advice not to ask any further questions.

background

Jonah Hill (above) as Efraim Diveroli

Miles Teller (above) portrays David Packouz (below)

basis

The film is based on real events and is about two young arms dealers, Efraim Diveroli and David Packouz , who signed a $ 298 million deal with the American government through their arms trade AEY and were later charged and convicted of breach of contract terms.

In 2004 Diveroli took over the small mailbox company AEY Inc. from his father , who had previously run the company as a printing company. He renamed the company an arms trade and quickly began to make a name for himself in the industry. In 2005 Diveroli hired his friend David Packouz for the company and together the two of them looked on official government websites for tenders in the field of armaments. There was a large supply, as large quantities of armaments were shipped to Eastern Europe during the Cold War , but they were no longer needed there. AEY became known for undercutting large competitors with unbeatable prices and thus winning a large number of orders. At the end of 2006, the two had already achieved sales of over USD 10 million.

Finally, in early 2007, the United States Department of Defense made the company an offer of US $ 298 million to supply arms and ammunition to the allied Afghan National Army for the war on terror . In Albania Diveroli and Packouz found the necessary armaments, which originally came from China. However, due to an existing US embargo on Chinese military equipment, the treaty contained a prohibition on such equipment. Although Diveroli and Packouz knew the origin of the weapons, they nevertheless tried to deliver them to the Afghan army, disguised as weapons used by the Albanian military. However, this was exposed and in January 2011 the two were charged with fraud. Diveroli was sentenced to four years in prison and Packouz to seven months of house arrest .

The story was picked up by journalist Guy Lawson and published in Rolling Stone magazine in 2011 . Lawson has now also written the story down in a book called Arms and the Dudes (about German weapons and the boys ).

production

Jesse Eisenberg and Shia LaBeouf were originally intended for the main roles .

Filming began on March 2, 2015 in Romania . The film was also shot in Burbank , California , and in May 2015 in Miami , Florida .

Produced by Green Hat Films , The Mark Gordon Company and RatPac-Dune Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros. , the film was released in American cinemas on August 19, 2016 and in German cinemas on September 29, 2016.

criticism

The film received positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes , he has a 61% rating based on 181 votes cast and an average rating of 6/10. The website Metacritic rates War Dogs 57 out of 100, based on 41 reviews.

Frank Schnelle from filmstarts.de awarded 3.5 out of 5 stars and found in his conclusion: “A comedy elegantly staged by Todd Phillips , based on almost unbelievable facts, which does not reinvent the wheel, but entertains it very well.” The film service ruled: “ The moral-satirical potential of the material dissolves all too quickly in the irony of a non-binding feel-good movie [...]. "

Trivia

The “real” David Packouz made a cameo as a singer in the “Hilldale Home” nursing home, while his cinematic counterpart (played by Miles Teller ) tries to sell bed linen to the home manager.