Lord of War (16 September 2006)
directed by Andrew Niccol
starring Nicolas Cage, Bridget Moynahan, Jared Leto, Ian Holm, Ethan Hawke, Donald Sutherland, Yevgeni Lazarev, Eamonn Walker, Sammi Rotibi
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MPAA rating: Studio: Entertainment Manufacturing Company, Ascendant Pictures, Saturn Films, Rising Star, Endgame Entertainment Script: Andrew Niccol Music: Antonio Pinto, Tomer Biran Running time: 122 minutes Tags: Action; Africa; Drama; drug use; guns; New York City; Thriller; war Tactical strength: [5/10]
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for strong violence, drug use, language and sexuality
From the Lord of War trailers, I expected an action movie, but writer/director Andrew Niccol has infused his film with political messages that unfortunately interfere with my enjoyment of the film. I don't mind movies that try to make a socially conscious message, but I haven't seen an action movie that can support such a strain. Usually when I'm watching an action movie, I want to suspend most of my critical thinking skills and just enjoy the adrenaline rush as the bullets fly. When an action movie wants me to think about a message, then I have to think about the plausibility of the situations -- like having a character run a gauntlet of machine gun wielding freedom fighters and emerging unscathed.
Yuri (Nicholas Cage), the son of Ukrainian immigrants, doesn't want to inherit his parent's New York City Deli. He learns early, that he can make money selling illegal guns, first to gang members, then to militias, and finally to entire nations. He gets a lucky break with the collapse of the Soviet Union, and he takes advantage of his uncle in the Ukraine who commands an entire cold-war stockpile of Russian weapons. At first, Vitaly (Jared Leto) works with Yuri as a partner, but a shootout in Palestine convinces Vitaly that he wants out of the business. Yuri carries on, and he seems born for the business. He outmaneuvers both his competition and Interpol investigator Jack Valentine (Ethan Hawke). As the money rolls in, Yuri marries a trophy wife, has a son, and continually upgrades his residences.
Since Yuri will sell guns to anyone with the money to make the purchase, he must not look too deeply into how the guns get used. At one sale, the buyers use the weapons on the villagers just yards from the bargaining table. Yuri buries his morals and basically any emotional response to violence. Vitaly turns to drugs to try to erase the violence he has witnessed. Yuri keeps escalating his deals, addicted to the thrill of the game like Vitaly addiction to drugs. Nicholas Cage does a good job at playing a character who has buried his emotions so far that he can't show any emotion toward his family or even at the death of people around him.
Lord of War doesn't provide enough action or suspense for me to enjoy the film for its plot, and I found the political elements too preachy for me to enjoy the film as an intellectual exercise. The film makes the argument that the availability of guns kills people with the implication that if we had some sort of international gun control, a lot fewer people would get killed. I certainly don't agree with making twelve-year-olds into armed combatants, but a determined enemy will find the means to attack its foe, with or without guns, and an action movie probably won't attract an audience really interested in a reduction in the net number of explosions worldwide.
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