
Armed with nothing more than twigs, their imaginations and a simple set of rules, a group of 12-year-olds engaged in a lively game of Capture the Flag in the neighborhood woods start dangerously blurring the lines between make-believe and reality. Paint-filled balloons = Grenades. Trees = Control towers. Sticks = Sub-machine guns. The youthful innocence of the game gradually takes on a different tone as the quest for victory pushes the boundaries of friendship. The would-be w... (Full plot summary below)
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Armed with nothing more than twigs, their imaginations and a simple set of rules, a group of 12-year-olds engaged in a lively game of Capture the Flag in the neighborhood woods start dangerously blurring the lines between make-believe and reality. Paint-filled balloons = Grenades. Trees = Control towers. Sticks = Sub-machine guns. The youthful innocence of the game gradually takes on a different tone as the quest for victory pushes the boundaries of friendship. The would-be warriors get a searing glimpse of humanity's dark side as their combat scenario takes them beyond the rules of the game and into an adventure where fantasy combat clashes with the real world.
Leave your thoughts about I Declare War.
| eFilmCritic.comRob GonsalvesA bitter but paradoxically entertaining fantasia. |
| Austin American-StatesmanJoe GrossI Declare War works best not as a Lord of the Flies riff but as a solid look at how close middle-school emotions are to the surface and how imaginary wars become real-life conflicts in the space of a too-harsh word. |
| CraveOnlineFred TopelWriter/director Jason Lapeyre and co-director Robert Wilson made a movie with unknown kids that's thrilling, intelligent and emotional. |
| McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreIt’s engrossing, violent, frightening and funny in the ways it captures the way kids speak with no adults around, and the way kids act when society’s rules take a back seat in time of war. |
| New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierThere’s social commentary in all of this, but it takes a back seat to a surprisingly compelling narrative of the two combating teams. |
| The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenThe narrative meanders on occasion, the conceit can seem repetitious, the editing is loose. Nevertheless, buoyed by the naturalism of its exclusively young cast, the picture effectively gets into your head and under your skin. |
| Birth.Movies.Death.Devin FaraciIt's a loving, fun, extraordinarily well made celebration of the imagination and worldview of being 12. It's sweet but never sentimental. I loved it. |
| The GridJason AndersonIt's no small feat for the audacity of I Declare War's premise - presenting an afterschool game of war in a way that looks and feels as real to viewers as it does to the youngsters in the thick of it - to be matched by the cunning of its execution |
| Scene-Stealers.comEric MelinFiguring out who you are and where you fit in can feel like war at this age. I Declare War brings all those feelings rushing back and is rousing, funny, thoughtful entertainment to boot. |
| MTVCharles WebbA visceral and clever battle of wits, the fracturing of friendships, and a look at the true cost of (make believe) war really is. |