War Dogs: Guns, War, Money

David, a licensed massage therapist, is reflecting on his accomplishments or lack-there-of.  He is business minded but can't seem to catch a break.  His last resort is spending his life savings on bed sheets in hopes of making a profit in selling them to retirement centers.  When that obviously doesn't go over well, he feels at a loss.  So how convenient that his childhood friend Efraim comes back in town and introduces David to a world he never knew existed.

Efraim is the owner of a company who sells weapons to the military.  As he explains the process to David, David is conflicted with how legal and ethical it is, but can't deny the monetary gain to be had.      He gets an extra push to enter the world of gun running when his girlfriend becomes pregnant.  David feels he has no other choice.  It seems safe, I mean he stays in the office and runs the whole program via internet and phone calls.  That is, until he and Efraim find themselves traveling from Jordan to Bagdad to deliver a truck filled with guns.  He keeps all of this from his girlfriend as he knows her take on the war and general and knows what he does just wouldn't go over well.  To him, it's to support them which justifies it.

Life seems to be getting better as the money pours in and David finds a high end place in Miami for his love and their beautiful baby girl.  In fact, things couldn't be better.  Then David and Efraim meet Henry, an expert gun runner who can't do trades with the US military since he is on the Terrorism Watch List.  Henry is the key for David and Efraim to get the deal that will bring them millions.  David is leery of the whole deal especially when he finds out Efraim has screwed over those close to him in the past, but Efraim reassures him they are partners and this deal will close and make them quite profitable.  In order for this new deal to work, David must spend several weeks in Albania where thousands of rounds are to be packaged and distributed to Afghanistan.  The first glitch occurs when he sees the weapons which were supposed to be all from Albania, were actually from China and therefore banned to be used in a deal with the Pentagon.  The guys come up with a solution to repackage them in undisclosed boxes to hide their origins and find the right Albanians to do the job for a cheap price.  This is when things get a little hairy.  Efraim starts to show his true colors which David was previously concerned with and puts David in a life and death situation.  Efraim also hasn't been paying the Albanians for their services in packaging.  It all ends up being too much for David and he pulls out of the deal only to be investigated by the FBI once they get a tip from someone from Albania of illegal packaging going on.  I guess Efraim should have kept his word on paying those working for him.

This movie had it all; a great story line, acting, and suspense.  It is based on a true story and gives you another aspect of War you may not have been privy to before.  I never realize how much money was involved.  One scene even explains how much it costs to fully dress one member of the military, $17,000.  Yep.  I also appreciated how the movie showed just how easy it can be to let money win over what is right.  It was an excellent action packed movie that I highly recommend.