Lord of War (2005)

Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

A Disappointing Continuation

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

This movie is lost time and overrated. I saw the first half hour and I am particularly annoyed that you have to accept everything for true. The structure of the story is miserable. The main character played by Nicolas Cage sells weapons but it is not clear where they come from. He has customers all over the world from shadowy areas to which he can deliver weapons. Never is clear how he get this customers. He has an unstable brother with whom he cooperates and who can not bear the wealth when they have succes. He goes to the coke and then goes downhill with him. He tries to help him with a lot of tearjerking brotherlove. An other thing, he gets a handsome woman who does not find his work completely pure and suffers from remorse. This problem also must be resolved. In short, this movie has a machine gun fire of clichés whereby the critical film viewer has dropped out before the end

This film, allegedly based (very lightly) on actual events, tells the story of a Russian-American gun dealer and confronts the immorality of the war and arm business. It would even be depressing if it weren't ironic. Irony is the key to perceive the taunts of a film that takes for granted the inevitability of violence: just like food, death is a human need and man will always feel the urge to kill his fellow man. This provocation is the starting point for a trip to the world of arms trafficking, through the eyes of a trafficker who has surely killed more people than a nuclear bomb and who seems to live in a parallel reality. For him, the death of a child-soldier is sad, but its worse if its with arms purchased from the competition. All this shows us that this is a sarcastic movie, but with little drama and no characters that we can enjoy.As far as actors are concerned, the film is based on a good performance by Nicholas Cage, perhaps one of his best film performances to date. He is not one of the actors that I particularly like, so I was surprised to have liked his work here. The rest of the cast merely seeks to support him with poorly structured and developed characters. Jared Leto was a casting error.

This film at its core is a character profile of Yuri Orlov. Everything from the plot to the cinematography of this film does an superb job of reflecting Yuri's inner guilt and separation from the terrible acts he preforms. It gives us a strong impression of what Gun Running is like and it's a impression that leaves us the audience down right uncomfortable. The core message of the film is that evil prevails and it pulls no punches in delivering that message. definitely not for the squeamish even though there is little violence Lord of War proves to be far more terrifying than any horror film because it's based on true events. Not that Yuri was a real person he is a amalgamation of real people and events though. Easily one of Nicholas Cages Best films well worth your time if you are interested in dramas or politics. Check out a more in-depth review here were I defend my high rating. There are spoilers in the in-depth review so proceed at your own risk. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juigHkMifpo

No doubt Nicolas Cage gives his performance in this film the best since "Leaving Las Vegas". This is also the best appearance to date of Bridget Moinhan former model who plays his wife. Ninety-nine percent of American films there are dozens of people killed if not millions but never have a face. In this film Andrew Niccol makes sure we know who those bullets hitting. The balls have a face in this film and face are usually innocent women and children. After this film you'll get heavy hearts and understanding the arms trade will never stop as long as the governments of the industrialized countries can make a few bucks. Those weapons will find their way to get into the hands of bin Laden or Hezbollah and the cycle of violence will probably never stop.this is an amazing film with very strong and sharp criticism of the relationship of some Arab states recognized weapons to enemies of their enemies. warmly recommended.