I DECLARE WAR
Starring Gage Munroe, Siam Yu, Michael Friend
Directed by Jason Lapeyre, Robert Wilson
While The Hunger Games and Battle Royale have already depicted kids' capacity for maliciousness, I Declare War goes one step further by asserting that adolescents don't require any particular incentive to turn coldblooded. Fair enough. Anyone who's ever stepped foot in a schoolyard has surely seen their natural inclination to run in packs and ruthlessly switch allegiances.
The terrain for Jason Lapeyre and Robert Wilson's high-concept feature is even more treacherous: a wooded area where 13-year-olds are waging war with toys, sticks, and stones. An animated sequence has barely established the rules for Capture the Flag when Skinner (Michael Friend) goes rogue, kills his commanding officer (by pelting him with a paint-filled balloon), and takes a prisoner: Kwon (Siam Yu), the best friend of the rival faction's leader, P.K. (Gage Munroe). Having never lost a battle, PK doesn't plan on going quietly.
While the imagined explosions and gunfire grab your attention, it's Lapeyre's perceptive writing and the kids' convincing performances that keep you rapt. While each of the character conforms to a war film archetype the loose cannon, the silent loner their behaviour always feels genuine. Even PK's way with military strategy can be attributed to any youngster's capacity to ingest all available information regarding their current fascination.
These F-bomb-hurling combatants not only surprise you with what they're capable of but also leave you mourning the losses they suffer on the battlefield. Offering clever twists on old tropes, I Declare War reminds us that adolescence is hell and innocence is often the first casualty of Capture the Flag.
