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Lord of War is a tough film to classify. It has moments of dark comedy, political satire and absurdism, family drama, and fetish film all rolled into one. It’s good, don’t get me wrong. It’s really good, actually. It’s just a difficult balancing act, that works most times, but tends to wobble at others. Luckily the good far outweighs the bad, as it’s anchored by a strong Nicolas Cage performance. Lord of War tells the story of Yuri Orlov, a Ukrainian immigrant who went on to become one of the most lucrative arms dealers in the world. The film chronicles his rise to power through the years, as he begins selling abandoned American munitions up to his primary funding of the Liberian dictator, provided mostly by weapons left behind after the fall of the Soviet union.

It also follows Yuri’s personal relationships with his brother Vitaly (Jared Leto) who is in the beginning his partner, and with his dream girl Ava (Bridget Moynahan). Oh, and he’s pursued by Jack Velentine (Ethan Hawke) and Interpol agent From the first shots, this movie had me hooked. A great tracking shot over tons of bullet casings leading up to Yuri, who turns and addresses the camera about gun statistics. Apparently there’s a gun for every one in twelve people, and Yuri’s concerned with arming the other 11. Then the opening credits roll, and we follow a bullet as it’s made in a factory, and we follow it on it’s journey through it’s “life.”

Outstanding. Really sets the tone of the film up, as you’re amazed by the audacity of the situation, and shocked by the inevitable conclusion. And this is just the opening credits. The film follows in the tradition of Blow, or even Casino to a degree, where it follows your main character through the ages, from the beginnings, which are usually happier, profitable times of excess and joy, to the downward spiral that dealing with drugs (or crime, or guns, etc) eventually brings all these stories to. What separates this film from Blow (I pick on Blow, because Lord of War REALLY reminded me of it) is that it doesn’t feel like a Scorsese rip-off. It has a style and pace all it’s own. It feels like these type of movies, but it’s done in Andrew Niccol’s voice.

Andrew Niccol wrote, produced and directed this and he does a really good job. Niccol has directed Gattaca and SimOne, and wrote The Truman Show. none of these films would have lead me to believe he was the same guy who made Lord of War. I like Gattaca as much as the next guy, but this story seems out of left field for the man. I mean these to be complimentary. The man knows how to make a solid film, and compelling characters. The acting, like I mentioned before, is very solid. Nic Cage is awesome. Not his best performance (that would be Adaptation) but up there. Very understated, which is not what I always think of with Nic Cage. usually it’s either manic and full of tics, or unbelievably bored.

With Yuri, he creates a salesman unlike any other. Removing himself from the moral conflict of selling guns (and the bullets that do the actually killing), Yuri might as well be selling a Buick. He’s slick, but very likable. Hell, it took me about half the movie to realize that there might even BE a moral conflict. Maybe that says more about me than I realize, but still. Cage does well. Jared Leto does a good job as well, but he kind of disappears towards the middle and shows up again at the end of the movie. Not as powerful as his work in Requiem for a Dream, but that’s in a whole other ballpark.

And Ethan Hawke is good as the agent who’s determined to bring down Cage. Again, though, he’s not really in it that much. Ian Holm as a rival arms dealer is slimy, and makes you forget he was Bilbo. Oh, and the Liberian President and his son stand out as good performances of that haunting moral ambiguity. Again, it’s pretty much Cage’s show, and he does it well. The only actor I didn’t care too much for was Bridget Moynahan. It wasn’t that she did a bad job, or had little to do. I just felt that I’d rather be watching Yuri’s story the whole time, and I felt her scenes slowed things down a lot. (Much like in Blow….I’ll stop now).

The scenes aren’t bad at all, but they’re missing the energy of the scenes where Yuri is doing what he does best. There’s no doubt that Yuri would be in love with Ava (the scenes of his courtship of her are really well done, and quite funny) but I want to be watching the stuff about the guns. And that’s where I mention the fetish film bit. There’s a lot of loving, caressing camera glides over weaponry. Lots of guns shown as if they were models. hell, there’s some nudity in the film, but it’s nowhere near as enticing as the shot of the AK-47.

Yuri definitely loves guns almost as much (if not more) than women, save for Ava. There are some truly great scenes in the film that stand alone as fantastic. I can’t even begin to list them. But I’ll say the plane landing in Sierra Leone sequence stood out as one of my favorites. Great filmmaking. The movie seems to not want to take sides, though.

There is the debate over arms trading, is it right, is it wrong, etc. But this movie seems more concerned with telling Yuri’s tale. (By the way, the picking sides debate is a key debate within the film, and is key to Ian Holm). The ending is a bit ambiguous, but it leaves you facing the choice on your own. It’s a movie that actually makes you think a little bit, which is rare, but that could just be the end of summer catching up with me. So check out the Lord of War. It’s got a great lead performance, and some inventive filmmaking. The more I think about it, the more I like it. So I’ll shut up and let you decide for yourself.

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