Lord of War
Lord of War
R | 16 September 2005 (USA)
Lord of War Trailers

Yuri Orlov is a globetrotting arms dealer and, through some of the deadliest war zones, he struggles to stay one step ahead of a relentless Interpol agent, his business rivals and even some of his customers who include many of the world's most notorious dictators. Finally, he must also face his own conscience.

Reviews
Crwthod

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

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Siflutter

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

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Derry Herrera

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

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Marva

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

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cinemajesty

Movie Review: "Lord of War" (2005)In Fall 2005, Lionsgate film distribution, founded in 1962 Montreal, Canada presents this crime-drama meet dark-satire-indulging genre mix to a surprisingly-prevailing original directorial effort by auteur Andrew Niccol, known for "Gattaca" (1997), who takes this movie-owning, towering actor Nicolas Cage as Ukranian immigrant to the U.S. Yuri Orlov moving around the globe as weaponry/armory trading entrepreneur starting out with tight corner New York neighborhood trades on minor half-automatic pistols, revolvers and their caliber-ranging ammunition before filling whole ocean tankers with warlord-merchandise from a dissolving U.S.S.R. (1922-1991) to constant-shifting no-surprises quality cinematography by Amir Mokri, who hit his peak with visualizing "Man of Steel" directed by Zack Snyder, when "Lord of War" utilizes skillfully voice-over-indulging "Goodfellas" homages to entertaining as controversy scenes of African Sierra Leone backyard trading warlord Baptiste Senior, with full convictions shot-on-sight performance by Eamonn Walker, and his Rambo-movie-loving Junior, when Yuri Orlov convinces not only the top-modeling character of Ava Fontaine, portrayed by good-face-given Bridget Moynahan, to further overpowering accelerations of Yuri's brother Vitaly bringing support as conflict to full-throttle entertainment sharing 115-Minute-Editorial by Academy-Award-winning editor Zach Staenberg, when "Lord of War" becomes an underrated modern classic of what cinema can do on audience's mind-setting consumptions to witness a devastatingly honest scene of power-struck, boundaries-overtaking conversation between Nicolas Cage and Ethan Hawke, who puts out an remarkable pushing as struggling nemesis-character as Interpol special agent Jack Valentine.© 2018 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

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sakram

Lord of War is a simple of example of how corrupt the world is from the view of an arms dealer, and how money doesn't solve everything, rather, how money can drain the person's morality but then drains him himself completely.Nicolas Cage's flawless acting which suited the arms dealer persona very well is a principal in this movie, and without it, I wouldn't even have liked the protagonist, or rather, the antagonist, you can't distinguish who's good and who's bad anymore. Lord of War is a war of morals, philosophy, benefits, pride and most importantly money.Give it a try ! 7/10

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Samuel-Shovel

Cage stars as a rags to riches gunrunner whose lack of scruples leads him into interactions with civil war and unrest all around the world. Cage is there to profit off of all of them. But as his world starts to crumble around him, will Cage learn from his past? To be honest, I was a little shocked by the positive reviews from critics and audiences alike when I went onto the IMDb page after watching the movie. Was I watching the same film? There's not much going on here. The plot is glued together loosely by a series of wars throughout the world and the ever present Nick Cage. The editing in this movie left me scratching my head. Am I suppose to feel bad for Cage's wife and child I've seen for all of two minutes? I guess the message of this movie is we as a society need to focus more on stopping gun sales that help start civil wars and genocides but the film does a poor job of getting its point across.The cinematography is fine but nothing spectacular. The constant voice over from Cage is unnecessary, made worst by the face that Cage was sleepy when read his lines. I was already rolling my eyes by the time the intro of the bullet was over. This movie thought it was a lot smarter than it turned out to be which is unfortunate for the audience.

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Screen_Blitz

"There are 550 million firearms manufactured in a world circulation, that is one firearm for every twelve people on the planet" says Nicholas Cage's character in the opening scene. This political thriller boasting Andrew Niccol in the director's chair offers a significant, but somewhat convoluted testament on the tragic repurcussions of illegal arms dealing. The central figure in the story of a seemingly ordinary man who finds himself way over his head when he gets involved in a contraband arms dealing industry. As what many may know from reading the newspapers, arms dealing is a dirty business, and this film sheds some fair light on it. Although Niccol appears to show slightly more interest in pushing for a political agenda than telling a stimulating story, the story serves not as an angry condescension against arms dealing but a bold character study of a man wrestling with his inner demons as a result of his amoral business. Set in the 1980s during the final stretch of the Cold War, this film stars Nicolas Cage as Yuri Orlov, an Ukrainian native who makes a shot for the big bucks when he starts an contraband arms dealing business, selling a mass production of firearms to various international warzones around the globe. Bringing his cocaine addicted brother Vitaly (played by Jared Leto) along, Yuri quickly rises up the financial ladder with his selling, but soon must confront his morality when he finds himself in the crossfire of Interpol agent Jack Valentin (played by Ethan Hawke) who's pursuing after him. This movie tackles the area of the Cold War most films of the genre often neglect, and that is the politics that went outside the United States when many countries in the eastern hemisphere were at war and one of the major conflict dealt with exchange of international firearms. While the arms exchanging duty did lead to a helping hand for international defense, it also opened doors to tragedies that caused the lives of countless lives including children. This film focuses on the lead character's struggle against his morality when we witnesses the violent tragedies of countries at war, while experiencing a bold uproar in the law enforcement. Andrew Niccol does a fairly successful job at portraying the rise and fall of the lead character's dirty business, effectively exhibiting the violent consequences of arms dealing that puts him and his family in danger. But it is not the final half of the film when the story splashes into a somewhat uneven fiasco. There is a fair amount of substance and political commentary sprinkled throughout the two-hour picture, but perhaps it doesn't help that the narrative occasionally teeters towards the brink of uncertainty. The story ends on a rather ambiguous note that has a good capacity to leaving viewers with more questions about Yuri's morally dubious choices than answers.Nicolas Cage, Academy Award winner for his harrowing role in 'Leaving Las Vegas', does a pleasant job of showing his acting muscles in the lead role. His performance is solidly pleasant and shines a strong light on his talent. While his character may not fall in line with the category of a villain, there is no doubt that this role will provoke outrage for his ill morality that eventually leads to tragic consequences. Adding pinches of levity to the film's dark tone is Jared Leto who hops into the role of the lead character's younger brother Vitaly. Leto shines with a dose of humor nearly minute he is on screen, with his flamboyant behavior resulting from his compulsive cocaine addiction. While his comedic portrayal eventually overstays its welcome, Leto proves himself as a competent actor. Bridget Moynahan, suiting the role of Yuri's sexy lover and eventual wife, exhibits a decent performance for her time on screen. Then there is Ethan Hawke who takes on the role of an Interpol agent who rides on Yuri's tale upon discovering his unlawful business. His performance is quite strong and effectively shows his acting chops, nothing more nothing less. Lord of War is far from standing a cinematic masterpiece, but it is smart, if slightly flawed testament on illegal arms dealing. It is an ambitious picture that is bound spark plenty of interests and discussions long after its conclusion, at least for some who get the invested in its bleak subject matter. It is a dark picture, but it is an intriguing nonetheless. Best of all, it marks the spot of one of Nicolas Cage's best endeavors.

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