thought-provoking and entertaining

Rating: 9/10 (3 July 2006)

Lord of War (2005) Directed by Andrew Niccol Starting Nicholas Cage, Bridget Moynahan, Jared Leto, Ethan Hawke
Lord of War follows the career of Yuri Orlov, a poor immigrant from the Ukraine who eventually becomes the world's leading arms dealer. The nature of selling and buying weapons and how arms deals are worked out is explained through Orlov's many interactions with his clients, from Russian generals to African war mongers. According to Orlov, he "has sold guns to every army except the salvation army." From the interesting opening montage which follows the life of a bullet, the movie both informs and entertains, exposing to the audience the details of arms trafficking without becoming preachy. The script is superb, as the dialogue is sharp and witty, and delivered well by the cast. Nicholas Cage, manages to play Orlov as a morally and emotionally detached person, yet we understand why he does what he does. Cage is perfect as Orlov, as we never sympathize with him, nor detest him, we simply see him and his actions, and are allowed to form our own opinion. Bridget Moynahan plays the wife who doesn't ask Orlov the important questions, because she doesn't want to hear the answers, and when she finally does, it's too late. Jared Leto plays the little brother, who cannot detach himself from the industry as easy as his big brother. Finally, Interpol agent Jack Valentine is played by Ethan Hawke, who's the strong-willed yet naive cop, whose morals never waiver. (very similar to his role in Training Day) When he has the chance to kill Orlov and stop the flow of guns into the hands of murderous guerrilla armies, he doesn't. "Who would know?" his fellow agent asks him, "people disappear all the time around these parts", to which Valentine answers, "We will." Valentine's deep convictions and moral standards is an interesting contrast to Orlov's moral detachment. In a critical scene, Valetine tells Orlov that "you get rich by giving the poorest people on the planet the means to continue killing each other nine out of ten war victims today are killed with assault rifles and small arms. Like yours. Those nuclear missiles, they're sitting in their silos. Your AK-47, that is the real weapon of mass destruction." However, Orlov responds by citing the statistics which reveal that more people are killed by cigarettes and alcohol related problems per year than firearms. Lord of War achieves what Bowling for Columbine (the controversial Michael Moore documentary on gun control) aimed for but failed, to give information and raise awareness about the issues of guns and weapons, all while being an entertaining movie. We are given information on the situation and left to ponder the question, do guns kill people or do people kill people?
9/10