Plot Yuri Orlov (Cage) tells of his career in the international arms trade, from small beginnings in America to bigger, more dangerous deals in Africa. Pursued by an Interpol agent (Hawke), Yuri prospers in his bloody business at great cost to his relationships with his brother (Leto) and wife (Moynihan).
Review In earlier films as a writer-director, Gattaca and S1m0ne, plus his script for The Truman Show, Andrew Niccol looks to New Scientist articles and current cultural trends for the seeds of ‘if this goes on …’ awful warnings. Here, he is more interested in why the world is hell now, and how it has become that way, than in how much worse things will be in the future — and he seizes upon a big subject unduly neglected by the movies. Many films have dwelled on the ins and outs of the illegal drug business, but Lord Of War applies the GoodFellas-style insider confessional approach to a trade where death isn’t an unfortunate side effect but the main attraction: the arms business.
Much of the entry-level material is striking: a credits sequence gives a bullet’s eye-view as it takes a long journey from an American factory to an African head, and the narrator spiels lovingly about the Soviet 1947 model Kalashnikov (the AK-47, the real ‘weapon of mass destruction’). The Scarface dealer’s dictum (“Never get high on your own supply”) is wittily updated in the “first rule of gun-running” (“Never get shot with your own merchandise”), but it’s hard to make the weapons business as perversely exhilarating as the dope trade.
Movies fetishise guns, as the script acknowledges with the dictator’s son obsessed with owning “the gun of Rambo”, but there’s surprisingly little excitement in watching cases of ex-Soviet ‘machine parts’ being traded on Third World docks or in the back of beyond, even with hair’s-breadth escapes, car bomb assassinations and vividly horrid characters like Eamonn Walker’s all-purpose evil African dictator.
As often in criminal memoirs, it is hard to get really involved with a main character who — despite Nicolas Cage’s insidious charm — is just a shit. All Yuri Orlov’s unapologetic candour can’t make you care when his wife wants to leave him or his more morally ambivalent brother cracks up. The cat-and-mouse between Yuri and his Interpol nemesis (Hawke) leads to a last reel shift which is probably necessary from an audience’s point of view — reminding us that crooks like Yuri are minor operators next to the big governments who sell weapons legally — but really shouldn’t be news to supposed professionals.
Verdict It would like to be Traffic with guns, but comes out more like Blow with bullets. Impressive performances, fascinating info-bytes and pertinent editorial, but in the end, it feels too much like an illustrated lecture.
Get this review and thousands more on on your iPhone, download the Empire Movie Guide now!
Write Your Review
To submit your own review and rating please login or register.
Advertisement
Your Reviews
Average user rating for Lord Of War
Rather tedious
Slow, dull and predictable. Three words which can be used to descibe this snorefest. Its filmed well enough but the plot meanders along at such a pedestrian pace that the viewer's attention drifts away long before the end. ... Read More
...brill film. A kinda pointless story but enough to keep you watching and keep you entertained! Really good scenes between Ethan Hawke and Nic Cage, you can feel the intensity from both performances! ... Read More
Andrew Niccol's film about gun running in modern culture is effective, although slightly slow in parts. The opening bullet sequence is excellent and from then on you get an interesting story about Yuri Orlov's life as a weapons dealer. Nic Cage gives a good performance and the film is violent and entertaining in good measure. Sure, there are times in the film when it feels like a bit of a lecture, but this is entertaining fare which is throughly enjoyable. ... Read More
Eye-opening film about arms dealers. Cage gives a good performance, in a quite violent and informative film. The "Life Of A Bullet" credits sequence was just brilliant too.
... Read More
Eye-opening film about arms dealers. Cage gives a good performance, in a quite violent and informative film. The "Life Of A Bullet" credits sequence was just brilliant too.
... Read More
*** SPOILERS ***
Even though I enjoyed it I expected a bit more for some reason. The start where we see the bullet from manufacture to brain was really excellent. I didn't really see Jared Leto as some sort of pretty boy arms dealer though and his sudden instability leading to his death didn't ring quite true, however cage was excellent and the points made about the arms trade were great.
After 9/11 most of the big conventions/ fairs/ large scale organised gatherings wer... Read More
Remember seeing this at the cinema and thinking it was good, bought it on DVD recently and realised that it is a really excellent film.
You've gotta like Cage. ... Read More
Classic
Excellent
Good
Fair
Tragic
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
