Arms Contracts Equal Bucks: Makes the Drug Trade Look Like a Lemonade Stand

Rating: 8/10 (19 October 2017)

Recently on the television show "American Greed", the story of Efraim Diveroli and David Packouz trading firearms and ammo to the US government was showcased as a morality tale of greed beating out common or good sense. Although both were against the US-Iraq War, Doveroli and Packouz decided market profit eclipses domestic moralizing. The US government was at war, and there were people in the world who were going to profit by dealing arms and ammo to those engaged in the fighting. The dirty little secret about war: there are many who profit largely whenever a superpower goes to war. The kind of money made in arms dealing as compared to something like illegal drugs, makes the latter look like a few lemonade stands.
David Packouz (Miles Teller) was a massage therapist and occasional seller of high-quality blankets to the elderly. He doesn't make great money at either endeavor. He chances to meet his former school buddy, Efraim Diveroli (Jonah Hill in an award-caliber performance) at a funeral. Diveroli has been in illegal drug trading, but has found a more lucrative market: dealing in used weaponry and selling to the most fanatical gun enthusiasts on the planet: the United States Military. They find used weapons at wholesale and then resell online and to the US Government. His small company was called AEY Inc.
Because the US is at war in Afghanistan and in Iraq, there is a shortage of munitions supplies. Diveroli discovers there's a US website detailing hundreds of requests for munitions. With governmental approval, anyone can sell the munitions to the US Military. At first everything is on the up-and-up. But they are mainly getting the crumbs while the larger manufacturers are getting the bigger pieces. The crumbs are worth millions but the thing is, the larger contracts are worth in the hundreds of millions. They even get a silent partner/backer Ralph Slutsky (Kevin Pollack).
At a conference on firearms in Las Vegas, Diveroli and Packouz learn they may be in over their heads as they can't compete with the large munitions companies. Until Packouz meets with the notorious arms dealer Henry Girard (Bradley Cooper). Girard tells the novices several pieces of information which in this business can turn into hefty profits. (While I don't always agree "knowledge is power" only "potential power", in this case, the first one with the map to the treasure could win) Firstly, there's a shortage of AK-47 ammunition, needed especially for the Afghan army in the Middle East. Secondly, Girard knows where he can procure a large quantity of 150 million rounds of ammunition. The last piece is that Girard can't do business with the US Federal government, probably because he broke trade regulations. (Girard is probably loosely based on Swiss arms dealer Heinrich "Henri" Thomet.) Girard proposes to the newbies that he will sell them the ammo he has access to. If AEY can broker the deal to sell 150 million rounds of ammo to the US government, the deal is potentially worth $2/round, in other words about $300 million. It will be the largest deal AEY has ever brokered. The question is: will the US government fork out hundreds of millions to two twenty-something arms traders who have been in business for less time than a typical baseball season?
A thoroughly compelling film. Aspects are a bit like some of Martin Scorsese's offerings with voice-over and occasional freeze frame. The voice-over by Miles Teller helps us understand all the pieces of the arms-dealing world. Some aspects were fictionalized but many of the details of some of the deals are accurate, especially the one worth $300 million. All acting is solid, particularly Tellers as Packouz and Bradley as Girard. However, a fantastic and believable performance by Jonah Hill as the guiding force behind AEY. Definitely one of Hill's best acting performances. A fairly underrated film.