Lord of War: Movie, DVD, Blu-ray disc Review

(Originally published Sept. 16, 2005)

Amid all the spent bullets, the graphic depictions of genocide, the finger pointing at big government and the criticisms of our current president, there still is room for irony in the new Nicolas Cage movie, "Lord of War." Unintentional, yes, but it's there, and it deepens the film unexpectedly.

The movie, which director Andrew Niccol based on his own script, is about international gunrunning, with one Yuri Orlov (Cage)--a Ukrainian-born, Brooklyn-bred kingpin raised Jewish by parents who wanted to capitalize on the fruits of the locals--helping to arm the third world.

Over the course of two decades, we follow Yuri's sorry life, watching him gradually face the manipulative, unlikable core of who he is in the wake of the mass death he unleashes globally. Not that his connection to those deaths trouble him much. Yuri is in this for Yuri.

The movie begins with a spectacular scene of computer animation. In it, Niccol follows a single bullet's harried path from a manufacturing plant in Russia to the jungles of Africa to the throws of a bloody street war and finally to the center of one young boy's forehead.

Cut to Yuri, who supplied those guns and who now is standing amid a wasteland of death and smoking wreckage. "There is one firearm for every 12 people on the planet," he says to the screen. "The challenge is to figure out how to arm the other 11."

Yuri isn't a good man--he's the kind of guy who likes to brag that he sold Israeli-made Uzis to Muslims--so what ensues is a story that follows his efforts to get people the guns they want. Helping him is his cocaine-addicted brother, Vitaly (Jared Leto), who is useless. Hindering him is an Interpol agent played by Ethan Hawke, who is naive. Yuri's beautiful wife, Ava Fontaine (Bridget Moynaham), is pure window dressing. She's a former model who is neither here nor there, just like their young son, who was obviously brought in to punctuate just how far Yuri has fallen from what matters.

Or at least what should matter. The problem with "Lord" is that Yuri is so amoral, nothing really matters to him but money, power, the rush of selling guns. Since it's impossible to like him, that feeling extends to the movie he inhabits. Since his behavior becomes so repetitive and predictable, the film follows suit--long stretches are redundant.

"Lord of War" has flashes of good writing and acting, but for those who pay attention to the news, its story won't seem particularly new. Add it up, and what you have is a movie that ironically takes its own bullet in the gut.

The second irony is that an action star of Cage's caliber would appear in what's essentially a public denouncement of the manufacturing of weaponry. It's a twist that will raise its share of eyebrows, particularly since Cage owes his career by starring in a wealth of films that relied on a certain level of ballistic bombast to fuel their box office receipts. What would have become of Cage's career had Hollywood not armed the actor with guns and explosives? Would he be the A-list star he is today, or just another good character actor?

Likely the latter.

Grade: C