Lord of War (Widescreen)
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Movie Reviews of Lord of War (Widescreen)
Movie Review: "They call me a 'Lord of War' but perhaps it should be you."
Summary: 4 Stars
When Yuri Orlov [Nicholas Cage] discovers that his only talent is selling illegal arms to warlords and mafia crime lords, he starts on a wild ride that eventually [or I should say inevitably] leads him to getting in more messes that even the smoothest talking can't get him out of.
Lord of War stars Nicholas Cage as a Ukrainian immigrant to America who discovers that they only thing he is good at is selling illegal weapons. His first deal is like, "The first time you have sex. You don't know what you are doing, but it is exciting, and ends way too quickly." Helped by his brother [Jared Leto] Orlov goes on to start selling more guns to countries that are at war with other countries because that is where the big money is in selling guns.
The movie is styllish and is fast paced in lots of scenes as Orlov goes to different areas in the world, from Russia to Africa, to South America. He eventually reaches the top of the mountain and becomes very well known by war lords, has lots of one night stands with women, and not to mention he also becomes very rich. How rich? He rented out a hotel just so he could trap a beautiful model [Bridget Monayhan], his dream girl, and eventually charm her into marrying him.
However like all good things there is an equal level of bad things such as; Orlov's brother as a cocaine addict, even running away with a kilo of cocaine and going crazy in a third world country. His wife has no idea what he does for a living, and like Cage's character says, "It's not the double life that you live that gets you, it's the fourth, fifth, and sixth lives that will."
Ethan Hawke is also in the movie as an interpol agent whose sole purpose of living it seems is to bring Orlov down. The first scene we see Hawke's character is when Orlov is on a freighter with M-16's and has to cover the illegal guns with thousands of potatoes that don't exactly smell like a field of fresh flowers in the warm sun.
The movie does have a lot of scenes not for younger viewers involving women, as well as a lot of violence and language. Some smaller plot lines include Orlov meeting a Liberian dictator [Eamonn Walker] whose son is just as ruthless as his father, holding his trademarked solid gold AK-47 with him wherever he goes.
There aren't many extras for this DVD, besides seeing trailers for the movie and subtitles. The lack of extras is the only thing I would see as a down side if you are the type of person who is into DVD extras. This is totally worthy of a DVD rental if you want to see a good movie on a Saturday night. [or any other day of the week, it's your choice] But definately check this movie out for a solid story.
"There is one person out of every 12 who owns a gun, the question is how to arm the other 11."
Movie Review: THE RISE AND LEVELING OFF OF AN AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL WEAPONS DEALER
Summary: 4 Stars
Yuri Orlov (Nicolas Cage) sells international weaponry like he's selling used cars. If you don't like the deals from the former Soviet Union's stockpile of arsenal, you may be interested in a huge lot of discontinued assault rifles. How about unused guns and ammo from the U.S.-led aid to the Bosnian War? If you stick a gun in his face, he'll bring the price way down.
"Lord Of War" is a cynical, yet not heartless and probably accurate portrayal of an American 'secondary market' international weapons dealer. Yuri globe-trots the world scooping up fantastic deals on abandoned and obsolete weaponry and peddles it off to third world countries where demand for blooldshed is high. His biggest competitor, he likes to joke, is The President of The United States.
So you get a heavy dose of good-humored anti-war subtleties, with a highly entertaining movie thrown in for good measure. The first person narrative, sometimes spoken directly into the camera, offers an endless stream of topical one-liners. Some work, and some don't - "Buying your first gun is like making love for the first time. You don't know what you're doing, but you know you're having fun." - or something to that effect. You eventually come away with a crash course in international arms dealing, that all the Time magazine issues in the world couldn't offer, sure to make you a more politically conscious observer. Exposure to the horrific results of weaponry in such an entertaining fashion is harsh, humane and like an unexpected needle from a doctor.
Like a confident puppateer above the chaotic gunsmoke of war, Nicolas Cage reveals a believable and likable global arms dealer, who could be the same guy you saw selling a hot car radio in an ally. His scenes selling guns are nerve-bending as he makes bold physical and vocal gestures never riling dangerous warlords, while the slightest nervous tick could set off a slaughter. Bridget Moynahan's 'trophy wife' is anything but, an honest and touching portrayal of a rather superficial person coming to terms with her husband's means to wealth. I loved what she said about her failed careers and her stand against Yuri's profession, - "I have been a failed artist and a failed actress. I will not be a failed human being." Eamonn Walker as Liberian dictator Andre Baptiste delivers a suave and vicious characterization as a man who will 'test drive' a new assault rifle by killing someone in the room with it.
I went into this film mistakenly thinking it was the upcoming film, "Jarhead". I saw previews for both and confused the titles. A little troubled by my mistake, it was as if someone pointed a gun to my forehead and said, "watch this film instead." I'm sold. Good deal!
Movie Review: Character Study of a Successful Arms Dealer.
Summary: 4 Stars
`Lord of War', written and directed by Andrew Niccol, starring (and co-produced by) Nicolas Cage is a slightly better than average Nicholas Cage vehicle which at least some reviewers represented among the blurbs on the cover seem to misuderstand. At least two blurbs describe the film as a `thriller', but it is definitely not a `thriller' in any normal sense of the term. My best description of the nature of the movie may be a `biopic' based on a parody of a `New Yorker' profile of a fictional arms dealer.
The movie is much more about motives, personality, and development of the Cage character, a Ukranian emigrant to `little Odessa' in Brooklyn who develops his `shady' to illegal arms trade from selling Uzi's to mercenaries to selling tanks and attack helicopters to African insurgents and strong men. The flick is not a thriller because aside from a few short incidents, there is never any enduring threat to the principle characters or any great mystery about Cage's character or his enterprises. By comparison, the great thriller, `The Usual Suspects' creates a big puzzle from the very beginning which grows with developments until it is resolved only in the very last scene. Nothing like that is going on here. There is even very little mystery or suspense over whether Cage's character will succeed with his romantic campaign.
This movie is all about the principle character's morality, the morality, or more accurately the strong legal sense of his antagonist, the Interpol agent played by Ethan Hawke, and the advice the principle gets from veteran arms dealer played by Ian Holm, and the consequences of following Holm's advice.
This movie is not quite as engaging as Cages's best flicks, such as `Adaptation', `Matchstick Man', or even the action movie `Con Air'. But, it is a whole lot better than some of Cage's stinkers such as `War Birds'.
Actully, one of the most interesting things about the movie is what we learn about the illegal weapons trade and how it was affected by the end of the cold war. One almost expects these types of characters to be either outright scoundrels or inept. Cage is neither. He succeeds in escaping from the dual perils of the law and his unsavory customers.
Unlike `Con Air' and even `Adaptation', this movie suffers a bit from the rather light cast. There is no one like John Malkovich against which he can play.
All in all, this is still a worthwhile movie, although the DVD extras are remarkably slim, probably because there is another 2 disk version, of course, for a higher price!
Movie Review: Amorality anyone?
Summary: 4 Stars
This sharp, incisive, and darkly funny movie about the career of a Ukrainian born American gunrunner was probably too cynical to find acceptance with a general audience. Its central character is an amoral, conscience-challenged arms dealer who finds it impossible to leave his chosen profession no matter the cost to himself or the people around him because "he's good at it".
Despite all of Nicholas Cage's inherent charm, this guy is hard to like, especially as the progress of the film will demonstrate his gaining the world and losing his soul and everything else that matters to him. Films with disturbing protaganists usually don't do well, and judging by a lot of the negative reviews I see here, I think this was a prime example of that response.
Most Americans probably don't even recognize or contemplate the fact that our government is the largest arms dealer in the world. Followed of course, as pointed out in the movie, by all the rest of the UN Security Council (China, France, Great Britain, Russia).
You can take the stance that Nic Cage's Yuri does in the film of "if I don't do it someone else will" or you can wonder would any of the suffering of, especially, the third world be relieved if arms dealing wasn't so easy, prevalent, and cheap. Yuri is not sociopathic as many have labeled him in their reviews, he is doggedly amoral. He takes no sides, he deals to whoever has the cash. His chief rival admonishes him that he must take sides. But is that any real option or just more of the same rationale to assauge one's conscience?
At any rate, I for one wasn't bored, and I found the writing sharp and insightful and fascinating as it recounts in dispassionate detail the rise of a world class arms dealer. Extremely well played by Cage, he somehow remains detached from the consequences of his actions for a long while, until all the dark and cynical humor coalesces in the end to a detailing of the harsh tragedy the trade really engenders.
The writer/director has created a stylish piece that actually bites into a subject worth thinking about, and takes us into a ruthless and cold world we know little about. Recommended for those wanting something different. 4-1/2 stars.
Movie Review: "Guns, Guns, Guns, Yeah!"
Summary: 4 Stars
This movie is in many ways a first of its kind, and in many ways it isn't. Lord of War deals with gunrunning, something I've never seen in movies to this scale. For that, I have to give this movie one extra star. But at the same time, this movie has a lot of similarities to Blow, by forcing us to cheer for the bad guy who is doing nothing but contributing to the destruction of the world. Only instead of cocaine, the Lord of War deals in AK-47s.
This movie follows the story of Yuri Orlov as he first discovers the profits to be gained in dealing in black-market weapons, and then as he learns the dangers of continuing in the trade. Though surely an intelligent man, he's also one-sighted; all he cares about is how and who to sell his weapons to, or how to gain more weapons at cheap prices. Hell, the day his son first walks is also the day the Cold War officially ends. Do you think he'd be excited about the first steps of his son? Nope, he cares about the massive surplus of Russian weapons left behind because of the ending of the Cold War. Despite all that, he's able to avoid Interpol for years on end, and gets himself involved with one of the most legendary and evil dictators in history, Andre Baptiste.
This is a movie of screwed up moral issues. Yuri gets into your head during this movie, and we believe that, though he wants war, he doesn't want death. If he had it his way, he would wish for all the weapons he sold to "miss" there target. And he's just such a lovable character. He risks his life daily for what he believes, no matter how off-base those beliefs are, and wants nothing more than to continue supporting his family. He's obviously intelligent. And he's funny, in a morbid sort of way.
In the end, though, this is a movie of acquired tastes. If you have no interest in guns (like me), or do not wish to glorify them, then this obviously isn't the movie for you. But if you have a high tolerance for things such as this, then get Lord of War. It's a good movie with a style all its own, and one based off of true events.