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| ![Charlie Wilson's War [2007]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51eeGrM-OHL._SL75_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Mike Nichols
Actors: Tom Hanks, Amy Adams, Julia Roberts, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Ned Beatty
Studio: Universal Pictures UK
Category: DVD
List Price: £19.99
Buy New: £9.11
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Avg. Customer Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 168
Format: Pal
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 102
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5050582550474
ASIN: B0014JGFD2
Theatrical Release Date: 2007
Release Date: May 5, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: ** Brand New & SEALED ** In Stock now & ready to be dispatched - Quality packaging used for delivery & all items sent via Royal mail. Purchase with confidence from Direct Video Services a 15 year established retailer. Call 01273 727838 for any queries.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Can't really fault it June 3, 2008
There are some good performances, especially Gust Avrakotos the CIA agent, splendidly played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman.
The ending quote from Charlie Wilson gave the film some weighted balance. It's one thing helping the Mujahideen defeat the Ruskies, but if you don't rebuild the country afterwards then the crazies, to quote Gust, will fill the void.
The script is sharp, witty and never slows down. I wasn't to sure about the cheesy attempt to portray 'nasty' Russian helicopter pilots and the chess scene was silly. However, the film flowed brilliantly and it would be churlish to try and find major faults just for the sake of it.
Allowing the fact that beauty (or politics) lies in the eye of the beholder, I have no hesitation in recommending this very entertaining film.
 Surprisingly good ... June 1, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I saw this film advertised, immediately thought 'Tom Hanks? Nah ...', and let it slip through the cinema releases without seeing it. It was certainly an error of judgement because Charlie Wilson's War is a great movie.
The plot is based on the true story of Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks), a coke-snorting, hard drinkin', womanising Texas senator who teams up with CIA operative Gust Avrakotos (Philip Seymour Hoffman), and sixth-wealthiest- woman-in-Texas Joanne Herring (played beautifully by Julia Roberts). They subsequently engineer the largest covert operation in US history, supplying freedom fighters with the weaponry they need to fight the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
'Charlie Wilson's War' is a mix of charismatic charactors, cynical humour and drama, with some fine acting by Hanks and Hoffman and a wider chemistry evident across the entire cast; CWW is the type of film you watch and just know the actors are relishing their roles and having a great time. It's funny and cerebral, while also showing us the murky side of how the world really works behind the scenes. It's an entertaining and accomplished piece of film making, but not without its problems.
Director Mike Nichols seems comfortable sitting in his 'Catch-22' war-comedy roots, and never really tackles head on the issues the film raises. In particular, the ending (where we, the audience, can retrospectively look back at the historical events and know the direction it goes) seems tacked on, as if to temper the somewhat jingoistic slant the film has for much of its length.
The film also falls into the Sorkin-esque trap where, although the dialogue is great, it's sputtered out at a Kalashnikov rate ... the old US tact of conveying the intelligence of characters by making them speak incredibly quickly. In parts, as with the West Wing, you'll have to rewind to catch what they said and when you do you'll find a reference to US politics that most non-US citizens won't quite understand.
Generally though, an excellent film that is bound to surprise you if you haven't seen it. Not one for the kids or the instant gratification brigade ... but a few movies like this are always a good thing to break up the summer blockblusters.
 Really great film - but DVD has 3.5 minute intro you have to sit through May 8, 2008
3 out of 9 found this review helpful
I saw this film at the cinema, came out and went right back in to see it again. As a fan of Aaron Sorkin it delivered exactly what I wanted.
Ordered as soon as available on the site - it arrived today and I have just started to watch it.
And it has a 3.5 minute trailer from unicef for a terribly important issue - HIV in Africa - at the beginning. It can't be skipped over. It can't be fast-forwarded past. It is terribly sad and depressing, and I'll have to sit through every time I want to watch this film - and I will want to watch it again.
It's maddening. Made worse paradoxically by the fact that the issue the mini-film is about it such a major one.
So: really good film - but be warned about the obligatory intro. I feel we should resist this development in new DVDs.
And Then We F*****Up The Rest Of The World May 3, 2008
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
'A liberal as well as a libertine, Charlie Wilson finds common cause (among other satisfactions) with Joanne Herring, a right-wing Houston socialite who loves Jesus and martinis and hates Communism. She is a splendid American contradiction, standing up for liberty and godliness while getting into bed (literally) with a bachelor congressman and (metaphorically) with President Zia (Om Puri), the military ruler of Pakistan. And, after all was said and done, Charlie says "And then we fucked up the rest of the world." AO Scott
Charlie Wilson, was an unapologetic womanizer, cocaine user, alcohol lover and all around good guy., The kind of congressman any sane person would want to avoid. Not me, if I knew my congressman was akin to Charlie Wilson I would walk on water to see that he won office again. Charlie got things done, he had heart and he loved, what is more important in this world? Tom Hanks portrays him perfectly. Joanne Herring played by Julia Roberts is the perfect foil. A lovely blond bombshell who was intelligent and wanted to make the world a better place. She said she loved the Lord and that's how she portrayed her works to the world and to the people who she was able to enlist to help her. The winner in my mind is Philip Seymour Hoffman who plays Gust Avrakotos, a C.I.A. operative. He does not care whose feet he steps on, he just gets the job done. His ability to clear the air of any fanciful misunderstandings is well worth the price of the film.
Charlie Wilson is asked by Joanne to help the Afghan's, and it is not until he visits the refugee camps that he fully understands the need. Isn't that the way it always is? He is convinced and for the next ten years he does whatever it takes to turn the first $5 million into one billion dollars. When all is said and done, however, we leave Afghanistan in a mess and of course, today we see the result to a country in chaos- the terrorists take over.
"Charlie Wilson's War is a journalistic satire of realpolitik in which our jerry-rigged alliances, which looked strategic at the time, end up biting the U.S. in unforeseen ways. Hovering over the film is the audience's realization that the Afghan war, while it hastened the downfall of the Soviet Union, created the breeding ground for an arguably more toxic threat: the jihad radicals who had nothing but hatred for the West (even as they were only too happy to use its rocket launchers). It says Charlie was right to fight his war -- if only Congress had had the will to support his reconstruction dream!" Owen Gleiberman
I loved the reality of this film- it was fun but with such a good message. Charlie Wilson is a man whom we would all want to be part of our lives. He actually gets things done in government. It took a woman to show him what was really needed, but once he got the fever he worked wholeheartedly for the Afghans. The film's ending was not to my liking, but I can over look that one error. Everyone should see this film, see what can be done when some one has a vision.
Highly recommended. prisrob 04-24-
"Who said they couldn't bring down the Soviet empire?" April 8, 2008
14 out of 16 found this review helpful
Tom Hanks' career could hardly be described as unsuccessful - he is one of only three actors ever to have seven consecutive $100million blockbusters - but his choice of roles hasn't always proved to be entirely triumphant. His recent turn as Robert Langdon in the Da Vinci Code, for example, was average at best; as one-dimensional as the film itself. And so, with very little knowledge of the 'war' in question, it was with great intrigue that I watched this, in which Hanks stars as a Democratic Texas Congressman, driven to supporting the Afghans' plight against the Soviet Union during the early 1980s. Wilson's idealism - which at times appears almost naïve - and his determination to pursue this cause, provides the film with its plot, and it is to Hanks' credit that the pace is maintained throughout. His portrayal of Wilson is a winning mixture of Southern charm, good humour, pathos, unerring resolve - and just a smidgeon of that ol' Tom Hanks' magic. Of course, the fact that he is flanked by the ever brilliant Philip Seymour Hoffman and the statuesque Julia Roberts (highly convincing as Wilson's conscientious love interest, Joanne Herring) does him or the film no harm either...
If nothing else, Charlie Wilson's War succeeded in piquing my interest in the Cold War and in the darker side of American foreign policy - however well-intentioned - which I have since gone away and researched in more detail (with George Crile's book of the same name being the obvious starting point). The film, however, should be judged on its own merits and personally I did not find it to be pro- or anti-American, preachy, or moralistic, but it did open my eyes to how political and military victories were - and to a certain degree, still are - achieved. It is a touch heavy on the political jargon for the average movie-goer, but the dialogue is swift and witty throughout making this an enjoyable and entertaining film, regardless of the depth of your knowledge of the period in question.
Matt Pucci
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