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.
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Average user rating for Lord Of War
RE: Lord of ... not much, really
Just watched this last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. Good turns by messrs Cage, Leto and Hawke and a good script and plot that wasn't to preachy while getting it's message across. Possible gripes would be an underused Ian Holm and to be honest, a running time that was a little on the short side. It didnt give enough time to Cage and Moynahan's romance (Meet at a hotel, in love within the day, next scene marriage), Leto seems to become a drug-addict overnight and they ... Read More
Well, after a great opening sequence and subsequent opening dialogue, I left the cinema feeling like, other than the sledgehammer revelation at the end (made in text, not dialogue, mind) I’d not really seen anything particularly stimulating.
The film, for me, gets lost between being a pseudo-documentary and study of single-mindedness. The problem is that the film is all about the arms dealing, and with no real study into what really motivates the lead character (Cage) to pursue his ambitio... Read More
It would like to be Traffic with guns, but comes out more like Blow with bullets -- True although Blow was better than this elongated bore.. and it only gets 2 stars from the exceptional opening sequence.. from which it descends into a mess of a film going everywhere and nowhere at the same time.. It even seams slow on x 4 on your remote !!!
At least it reinforces your appreciation of stonger and bolder films such as Syriana
Intacto ... Read More
Taken out of context of modern day politics and the current climate in Africa this has little more to offer than a nicely shot, well paced middle of the road film. It gets the extra star in much the same way that the more modern (and superior) Syriana did, for being current and important. Film making has never been all about entertainment and this film illustrates why. I suspect that Niccol is about to do something great, one to watch. ... Read More
I was put off by the title of this film and as such avoided watching it in the cinema, however my brother insisted it was amazing and I have to say he was right! This is probably one of my favourite films of last year now and I was supremely impreseed by Cage's performance... oh, and lotsa guns!
... Read More
"it feels too much like an illustrated lecture."
Much like Fahrenheit 911 was a conspiracy theorist's wet dream, which I liked considerably.
I can't help feel pity for Yuri. Even as he loses loved ones, he stills carries on with what 'he thinks' he's best at. There were points were I produced emotions (mainly anger) that rarely happens to me.
The Conclusion came with an interesting fact, which I cannot shake off. 4/5 ... Read More
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