Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Seth_Rogue_One First off, I'm not the one who usually goes 'I can't stand child actors' like many others, there have been many cases in which using child actors for a serious movie have worked very well.'Stand By Me', 'Mean Creek' or 'King Jack' to name a few all had excellent acting in them by leads consisting mostly of kids.But the acting here (for the more-part of the cast) really is sub-par, even for child actors. And it doesn't help that the dialogue often gets truly cringe-worthy: "even retards are more popular than me!" cries the stereotypical bully in one scene for example.The actual plot though overall is pretty decent and with a better cast and director it could have been fairly decent.It's listed as a comedy here but there is very little fun in this movie as it portrays children playing war in a very serious fashion, perhaps to draw some similarities with real war, but I didn't think it really worked.If you want a movie with kids playing war in the woods then go see 'Son of Rambow' instead, that's more on the comedic tip but at least it entertains without getting cringe-worthy.

gregking4 The Dirty Dozen and Platoon meets Lord Of The Flies? In a forest, a group of 12-year old boys play a game of Capture The Flag. The rules of this war game are fairly simple - the general gets to pick his own team; the base cannot be moved; when you are shot you must wait a certain period of time before rejoining; if killed by a grenade you go home; and whoever captures the enemy's flag wins the game. PK (Gage Munroe, from TV series Justin Time, etc) is a skilled tactician with knowledge of military strategies and he has never lost a war game. But this time there is another dynamic at play as simmering animosities, deep seeded resentments, jealousies and petty rivalry surface and ensure that the war game turns nasty. The fine line between imagination and fantasy and bloody reality become blurred. And the introduction of a girl into one of the teams this time brings in an air of sexual tension and jealousy. I Declare War is a disturbing but original parable that shows what happens to children's games when the rules break down and there is an absence of parental supervision. Writer/director Jason Lapeyre and co-director Robert Wilson explore many of the usual tropes of the adolescent coming of age drama, and mix them with the masculine themes and violence of a war movie. Although the boys are playing with sticks and balloons, the film makers occasionally show them with real weapons. There is a dark, vicious undercurrent of humour running through the material. The performances of the young cast are impressive, with Monroe a standout as the driven PK. Michael Friend is wonderful as the psychotic and sadistic Skinner, who has taken command of the rival army and is determined to win at all costs. This is a thought provoking film that deserves a broad release.

kvalentine926-189-516307 I do not know what movie the other reviewers were watching because "I declare war" was 90 minutes that I wasted watching this crap. The kids repeatedly mouthing innate conversations while on the hunt for the enemy camp that no real kids would actually be saying. A so called wannabe military strategist General PK replying "no" when a kid asked if Napoleon ever lose a war, I guess the movie writer never heard about Waterloo.The only part of the movie that I found even remotely amusing was when the kid returned to the enemy camp where he had been tortured and overacted his death scene after being shot by the enemy camp kids.I believe this would have made a decent 30 minute episode of the new twilight zone. Anyone who thinks this movie belonged in the top ten movies of 2012 probably also thinks Spring Breakers should get a Best Movie Oscar nomination.

larry-411 In the tradition of "Stand by Me" and "Lord of the Flies" comes a poignant dark comedy that puts a timely spotlight on the games kids play and the consequences of seemingly innocent actions when fun gives way to danger.Jason Lapeyre and Robert Wilson co-directed from a Lapeyre script. Wilson is an accomplished producer -- this is his second feature directorial effort (he serves as a producer on this as well). This is Lapeyre's followup to his first narrative feature "Cold Blooded." The movie had debuted as a work-in-progress print at ActionFest in North Carolina in April, where it took home the jury prizes for Best Film and Best Screenplay. It went on to a triumphant premiere at last month's Toronto International Film Festival. It took top honors here in Texas, winning the Fantastic Fest Audience Award.The premise of "I Declare War" is deceptively simple -- a group of kids gets together on a regular basis to play war games in the woods, challenging each other in mock battle with harmless paintballs and tree branch bazookas. We used to play cowboys and Indians with water guns and toy pistols. Some of us graduated to Civil War reenactments. We turned out okay. So when these youngsters choose to head out into the forest and get a good physical workout trying to steal the opponents' flag from their home base, while most of their peers are engrossed in role-playing games on their computers, this looks like a marvelously healthy alternative.But boys will be boys, as they say (okay, there is one girl), and the situation inevitably turns sour. Rivalries turn real as jealousy, love, and loss come to the fore, and some players take the game one menacing step further. The timely topic of bullying suddenly rears its ugly head as we see its root causes on display before having the chance to look away. As in 2004's "Mean Creek," one of my all-time favorite indies, innocent joy turns to potential tragedy as the line between fantasy and reality blurs both on screen, for the viewer, as well as in the minds of the youngsters.What the kids begin to see in their minds -- a stick of wood is suddenly a rifle, a paintball is a real grenade -- is reflected in the film itself. This is just one of the many masterful strokes that sets "I Declare War" apart from its brethren and makes it such a powerful cinematic experience in its contribution to a rich cinematic tradition, the classic morality play writ large when the protagonists are vulnerable adolescents.This character-driven study on the limits to which a man/boy can be pushed rests on the abilities of this age-consistent ensemble cast to make these characters believable. Without that the narrative would fall apart like an army facing mutiny. Standouts include Gage Munroe as PK and Michael Friend as Skinner. Both turn in frighteningly genuine performances that may draw a tear or two. All team members are on somewhat equal footing in significant roles with few in background support. Kudos must go out to Siam Yu, Aidan Gouveia, Mackenzie Munro, Alex Cardillo, Dyson Fyke, Spencer Howes, Andy Reid, Kolton Stewart, Richard Nguyen, Eric Hanson, and Alex Wall. Another bold choice -- there are no adults in this tightly-focused production.The movie's authenticity also stems from its unscripted feel, as the youngsters were encouraged to insert dialogue using their own teenage vernacular and improvise where it was agreed the young actors would best know how to behave in a certain situation. The language is raw, to be sure, not unlike my 2012 SXSW Film Festival favorite "Funeral Kings," with F-bombs galore and enough obscenities to make their parents blush. But it always effectively serves the plot and is never gratuitous or overtly offensive.Production values are well above the typical indie or foreign film. The entire picture was shot in one exterior location, a seemingly simple task made much more difficult by the limited hours allowed for underage actors and inability to avoid shadows no matter how well lit. Still, it always appears to be magic hour with the kids awash with the stunning beauty of nature, bathed in sunlight, their angelic innocence filling the screen.Composers Eric Cadesky and Nick Dyer have crafted an intricate score that's surprisingly heavy, serving as a perfect dramatic counterpoint to the child's play in the great outdoors. The action dictates the viewer's emotions, not the clichéd tugging of heartstrings with violins and cellos, and that's as it should be.The camera-work is virtually all Steadicam, affording cinematographer Ray Dumas the ability to maintain fluid motion throughout, despite the natural obstacles inherent in shooting on a forest floor. The combatants often move with the frame and not through it, as though we were running right alongside them. These tracking shots bring the viewer right into the action, allowing us to feel as if we're part of the game. But we're playing both sides -- but they don't know that -- and that's part of the fun of I Declare War. Spies abound, and you're one."I Declare War" also works because we've all been there, more or less -- every audience member will see a bit of their golden youth in one or more of these kids, for better or worse. If painful it can be cathartic. If pleasant it's sweetly evocative of a time past to which many wish we could return.