Synopsis

Cobra Starship turns the song's portrait of decadent urban life into a comic crime story. Dressed in matching white outfits, the band appears to operate a flashy underworld business involving money, mystery powders and violent confrontations. Their victims are taken out in absurdly theatrical fashion, with pies replacing conventional weapons. Police figures investigate the resulting chaos, but the gang keeps partying and posing until the video closes on an unexpected getaway, emphasizing the band's playful take on glamorized criminal excess.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was released online on December 31, 2007, shortly after the release of *Viva la Cobra!* on October 23, 2007.

• "The City Is at War" became the album's second single on May 9, 2008.

• The white powder shown throughout the video is flour, used in the pies that become the gang's comic weapon.

• The video's deliberately exaggerated crime-film imagery matches the song's criticism of wealth, status, designer drugs and party culture.

• The track runs for 2 minutes and 51 seconds on the album.

• *Viva la Cobra!* was recorded in only 20 days at Mission Sound Studios in Brooklyn and was produced by Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump.

• The video received television exposure on MTV, MTV2 and Fuse during the band's 2008 promotional cycle.