Don't you remember how seriously you used to take Capture The Flag? The perennial backyard favorite used to take up nearly every day of my summer months when I was 10 and 11, and it got really real a lot of time, with hurt feelings and bruises and time-outs and all the rest. But even we didn't take it as seriously as the kids in I Declare War, who as you can see in this exclusive clip above, are synchronizing their watches, agreeing to shoot to kill, and in general making Capture The Flag seem a whole lot more like real war than a way to hang out with your friends until dinnertime.
The Drafthouse Films release, which is available on VOD, iTunes and digital download, is arriving in theaters on August 30, just in time to get those last bits of summer nostalgia before fall starts for real. (You can click here for detailed information on where you can find it in theaters). As you can tell in this clip, there are some touches of the surreal what might otherwise be a mundane story of childhood. One kid might think this is the "first real war" he's ever fought, but another kid, at least for a second, has the power to shoot lasers out of his eyes. But, as you might remember, when you're a kid, shooting lasers out of your eyes seems totally plausible sometimes.
For more on the film, check out the official synopsis below:
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. Rocks = Grenades. Trees = Control towers. Sticks = Submachine 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.
Reviews since the film opened on VOD have been fantastic, with The Dissolve calling it "a mostly clever, cult-minded throwback to 1980s boy-bonding adventures like The Goonies and Stand By Me," and Badass Digest-- writing from last year's Fantastic Fest-- writing "Not since Stand By Me has there been a movie that so perfectly, precisely captures the mindset of being a kid." Check out the trailer for I Declare War below, and prepare your war point and synchronize your watches for its theatrical release this weekend.
