Deceptive and depressing film that seduces its audience into a world of humour and inappropriate glorification.

Rating: 5/10 (12 July 2008)

How sad to stumble across a film like Lord of War, a film that thinks itself to be a powerful and political statement on the world as we perhaps don't know it, whilst at the same time trying to incorporate conventional action film ideas but ends up as a morally inept, casual look at the life of arms dealing through a character that we are led to believe really exists. There is no justice in Lord of War; there is no feeling, just an air of arrogance as the film flies through scenes; voiceovers and scenarios of great danger with so much ease, we are perhaps tempted to laugh at it all. But whilst films that are morally bankrupt and centre around an anti-hero of sorts can be good fun, they should never be produced with the idea in mind that the anti-hero's actions are right or 'just'.
Alas, Lord of War makes that mistake. I wonder how many kids, or indeed stupid people in general, came out of the cinemas or watching this film thinking "Wow, doesn't being an arms-dealing look cool!?" We don't come away from films like Scarface, Blow and Layer Cake thinking being a gangster or a drug dealer looks like great fun with cash, women and a lifestyle because of what happens to those films' anti-heroes but Lord of War seems to want us to think that being a gun runner with similar lifestyle traits is a very good career move. If we look at Layer Cake, the opening voiceovers provided by Craig's character inform us of his situation and the fact he has the audacity to assume himself to be a 'business man' rather than a drug-dealer; we are not immediately on his side because of this terrible assumption. But later he is given a drug-unrelated mission by a boss and this propels him into a world in which he must prove himself to himself as well as us. The film becomes a passage of the protagonist showing us he can cut it when heart and soul is required to win through and adversity (traitorous employees, etc.) needs to be beaten. By the end, we feel he has proved himself and maybe we have forgiven him for getting 'business man' muddled up with 'drug dealer'.
In Lord of War, protagonist Yuri Orlov (Cage) does not have heart or soul. He is like one of those hormone fuelled young male adults at a grotty nightclub; ever sensing and ever looking out for the next lay. In Lord of War, Yuri wants the next batch of guns so he can sell and re-distribute to places run by people he couldn't care less about. Much like a drug-dealer would not care if his customer overdoses on the stuff he supplies. But this is the film's problem, it assumes we will care for Yuri despite who he sells to. Unlike Layer Cake, Yuri is never given a chance to redeem himself like Craig's character is; he is constantly buying and selling to the nastiest people imaginable without care.
The majority of the trouble with the film is its seductive mannerism and its tempting way it goes about its subject matter. In Nicholas Cage, we have an actor who very rarely plays a really nasty character. This seductive piece of casting of a name and a face we have an opinion of before even going into the film immediately draws us to 'side' with him. Secondly, the film has been constructed in a very clever way that brainwashes its audience. The film is full of funny voiceovers and situations we are supposed to laugh at. I wonder how many people actually laughed at the opening quote about 'arming the other x% of them'. Similarly, when Yuri finds himself in an African village with two girls specifically there to sleep with him, despite the high presence of AIDS, I wonder how many others will have laughed at the manner in which Yuri established the situation, the camera cutting to the two women trying to seduce him, the voice-over accompanying the scenario and the editing during which they are dismissed. This four pronged technique creates a light atmosphere in a situation that is dangerous; political and definitely un-funny.
And yet the film continues in its siege on the ridiculous, glamorising the depressing and serious, while making jokes out of serious political issues of recent years. There are numerous shots of the AK47 assault rifle in slow motion, slow motion being powerful and significant tool to use on any subject in any film. Then there are the voiceovers dedicated to the gun and the close up montage of it, further fetishising the product: aren't guns so cool? Just look at them. Lord of War is the sort of film that will show us an execution during a particularly nasty scene but will cut to the next situation and have it accompanied by some upbeat music. The film is not in good taste and the immediate ending which brutally betrays the rule of thumb for anti-heroes in films fuelled by crime is very disappointing; not on a dramatic level but on a moral one. Remember that Scarface quote: 'Don't get high on your own supply'? Lord of War's tagline is 'never get shot with your own merchandise.' This is the only connection between one very good and one very poor film that tackle the glamorisation of a certain element within the crime genre. Given how delicate America's gun situation is at the moment, maybe we should all stop making films that make guns and people who have guns look good.