Lord of War

I was really surprised that Hollywood was able to tackle a huge moral morass like the black market arms trade and leave the moral issues in the audience's lap. Yuri (played by Nicholas Cage) goes to work in a particularly ugly world. When he says that he's had a bad day at the office, you can be pretty sure that someone has been shot or blown up. At any event, what I liked about this picture was that although Yuri obviously has some moral issues to wrestle with, he does so on his own terms, and we are left to figure out the rights and the wrongs. Since most movie-goers don't like to leave a movie with food for thought, this picture may not play very broadly in theaters, but I hope it gets a good audience on video. I also though that Jared Leto was wonderful as Yuri's tragically addicted and unhappy brother.

Lord of War is about an arms dealer named Yuri Orlov who confronts the morality of his work while being chased by an Interpol agent. This is a very interesting film brought by director and writer of the film, Andrew Niccol (Gattaca). This is another great film of his that will boost up his career even more. Nicolas Cage puts up another great performance of the year and although his acting is very ostentatious, his narrating just like in The Weather Man, which came out a couple months later, is perfect. The dialogue is very good and the script couldn't be any better. Most of all, I clearly gave respect to Andrew Niccol, because honestly, he deserves the most credit out of any one who worked on the film. My hat goes off for him. Overall, great film of 2005 and I'll be paying more attention to Andrew Niccol's movies. I highly recommend it.

Hedeen's Outlook: 8.5/10 ***+ B+

Apart from the very serious topic, this is just an incredibly well made film. There are many scenes in this movie which stay with you long after the credits have rolled, the darkly funny ones as well as the truly horrific ones, and to me this is something only the best movies ever achieve. Intelligent and stylish: this is one of very few so called "films with a message" that I can watch again and again, because it's so cleverly constructed and so beautifully shot and acted. A personal favorite, 10 stars out of 10.

Favorite films: IMDb.com/list/mkjOKvqlSBs/

Lesser-Known Masterpieces: imdb.com/list/ls070242495/

A kind of dark comedy concerning a crazy, rogue arms trader (Nicholas Cage) and delivers one of his best ever performances (in a film quite like no other). It contains a very serious message throughout and some highly quotable lines to, such as "The 'AK-47' being the biggest weapon of mass destruction, as it's killed more than anything else". The tile is a clever word play and a featured mad dictator who gets everything backwards, such as "Bath of Blood", instead of 'Bloodbath' and "Lord of War" replacing 'Warlord' and so on. Has a ring of a terrible truth, with death, destruction and murder, being such a lucrative trade.

Atop a hillside in Liberia overlooking an impending village massacre once the arms deal settles, Nicolas Cage's Yuri pleads to his conscience rattled brother Vitaly (Jared Leto), "It is none of our business!" Writer and Director Andrew Niccol's "Lord of War" is all about the big business of war, and the cost of selling one's soul. That lost soul is Yuri Orlov played masterfully by Nicolas Cage. Cage as Yuri also narrates the story. Niccol sets the warped and dark tone in the opening sequence of the manufacture of a bullet to its final destination—so to speak. Yuri comments that there is one firearm for every 12 people in the world. So the question is "How do we arm the other eleven?" Niccol's "Lord of War" is not so much a clever indictment of humanity, rather an acknowledgment of perhaps humanity's darker nature. In a poignant and chilling realization for Yuri (Cage) he says, "They say that 'evil prevails when good men fail to act.' It should be 'evil prevails'." I don't think this is cynicism on Niccol's part, rather only stating what is so given all of history and now. He certainly makes us think from the inside out.

Yuri Orlov (Cage) is from a Ukrainian family in Little Odessa, NY. As a young man he has an epiphany witnessing a Russian mafia hit. Being an arms dealer is the path to success. He finds that he also has an innate gift for his chosen profession. He enlists his brother Vitaly (Leto) into the business. "Lord of War" traces the Orlov brothers over the course of 20 years—through the end of the Cold War to the advent of terrorist threats and dictatorships in third world countries. Yuri truly becomes the Lord of War supplying arms to anyone and any country for a profit. He also acts as an independent agent for undisclosed countries supplying arms to "freedom fighters". One gets the drift. Yuri eventually hits his stride and becomes very successful and very wealthy. He marries his trophy bride, supermodel Ava Fontaine (stunning Bridget Moynahan), has a son, and living in a luxury apartment in Manhattan. All the while he eludes the grasp of Interpol Agent Jack Valentine (very good Ethan Hawke), by keeping three steps ahead. Predictably Yuri's world comes crashing in upon him. In a powerful scene with Ava who purposely ignores what her husband really does for a living, Yuri has a conscience meltdown.

The actors in "Lord of War" are great. Nicolas Cage is such a powerful and versatile actor. I don't think any other actor than himself, could enroll sympathy as arms dealer Yuri. Cage gives Yuri a subtle detached edge and an expert in context. Cage knows he is in morally bankrupt position, and he uses his smarts and sense of humor to rationalize that he only supplies the weapons to men who do evil. Yuri is the ultimate poster child for "Guns don't kill people. People kill people." Jared Leto is surprising as the coke head brother, who eventually cops to the monster he has become—the counterpoint to Yuri. Bridget Moynahan is deceivingly powerful as Ava, the former model aware that her asset of being pretty is fading, and closes her eyes to what her husband does until it is too late. Moynahan is stunningly beautiful and has distinctive grace and vulnerability. Ethan Hawke as Jack Valentine is the intrepid idealist saving the world from the likes of Yuri. Hawke is very strong and compelling.

Andrew Niccol's "Lord of War" ends and the world continues on. The echoes of Yuri voice, just "evil prevails" is a chilling and poignant reminder. Nicolas Cage is brilliant as the lost soul in "The Lord of War". "The Lord of War" is one the year's best.