| | |  | Drama | | Home » | | | | | | | Product Promotions: | | | | | Description: | | Political movies about backroom negotiations need not be dry or heavy-handed, as Charlie Wilson's War delightfully proves. Based on the true story of playboy congressman Wilson's efforts to fund Afghanistan's defense against the Soviet invasion of the 1980s, the film is borne along on breezy attitude and a peppery script by West Wing scribe Aaron Sorkin. Wilson, played by Tom Hanks (who also produced), is the perfect hero for this kind of tale, because there's nothing perfect or heroic about him: He's a highball-swilling, fanny-pinching gadabout who becomes radicalized on the issue of helping the Afghans against their mighty aggressor. He has help in the form of a right-wing Texas anti-Communist (Julia Roberts) with a genius for raising money, and a sardonic CIA operative (Philip Seymour Hoffman, stealing the show) who lacks all the social skills Wilson has in abundance. Sorkin's syncopated speech is just the ticket for director Mike Nichols, who understands exactly how to keep this kind of political comedy popping (the complicated story comes in at a hair over 90 minutes, amazingly). Some scoundrels are on the right side of the angels, and the movie's Charlie Wilson is one of them. --Robert Horton
Beyond Charlie Wilson's War on DVD 
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Films by Mike Nichols | 
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Stills from Charlie Wilson's War (Click for larger image) | | | Product Details: | | | Actors:
| Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Ned Beatty | | Director:
| Mike Nichols | | Format:
| Widescreen, NTSC | | Language:
| Arabic, English, Russian | | Subtitle:
| English, French, Spanish | | Number of Discs:
| 1 | | Studio:
| Universal Studios | | Run Time:
| 102 minutes | | DVD Release Date:
| April 22, 2008 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 117 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
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 Excellent movie!Aug 17, 2008
This is a great movie. The acting is very good. I appreciated the insight into politics, showing a variety of deals and connections, both domestic and international. It is fascinating that the movie is based on a true story. It is not a war movie but a movie about the specifics, the nuts and bolts of politics influencing the outcome of a war in a very concrete way.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
entertaining and illuminatingAug 14, 2008
It's ironic that I watched this movie about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan at a time when a resurgent and newly aggressive Russia is crushing a fledgling democracy in Georgia. It made the experience all the more poignant.
Just taken as entertainment, and leaving aside the politics, I enjoyed this story of how an obscure Texas congressman known mostly for his womanizing managed to fund the Islamic resistance to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The performances were great with the one exception of the heavily-Botoxed Robert. The pace was also quite brilliant -- this movie flashed by.
Of course, the consequences for the United States are well-known and the movie alludes to this in its final few minutes. We defeated the Soviets, won the Cold War but our victory helped give birth to the Taliban and al Qaeda.
I wonder if there's a new Charlie Wilson out there to deal with today's Russian threat. Or have we lost so much in the past five years in Iraq that we no longer have the means, the will or the energy?
Recommended: entertaining and educational.
 History better than HollywoodAug 11, 2008
It really is a fascinating story ... One man sees the opportunity to do what his government won't... arm/train a group of militants to fight an enemy who did the same to us for more than a decade in South East Asia. And in doing so handed the U.S.S.R its worst military defeat.
Why we needed so much sex to sell this story, I don't know.
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 15 minutes are missing from this DVDAug 10, 2008
Having seen this film in the theater, I was very disappointed to discover several scenes were cut from the DVD version, including one crucial one. The most crucial cut concerned the fact that President Reagan's approval was what released the Stinger missile to the Afghans.
Also cut were scenes: Charlie Wilson was sick in the Hospital; his re-elction effort; testing an ineffective missile in Egypt; any more? Anybody know why?
(I also suspect that The Princess Bride now currently shown is missing an early scene that was in the theater version, but I can't confirm this.)
1 of 3 found the following review helpful:
I really enjoyed Julia Roberts' performanceAug 10, 2008
I really enjoyed Julia Roberts' performance. Overall, this movie is interesting, funny, sharp, and again relevant to the world today.
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