Lord of War
‘#160;
Grade: B+
‘#160;
Directed by Andrew Niccol, “Lord of War” tells the story of arms dealer Yuri Orlov (Nicholas Cage) over the course of about twenty years. During this time, we see him rise from selling guns to low-life mobsters all the way to supplying whole revolutions with his illegal arms. Along the way, he does everything he can to not only hide his real job from not only the law, but from his family as well.
“Lord of War” is a black comedy, or a comedy about something that shouldn’t be considered funny – in this case, it is about arms dealers and the effect they have on the people they encounter. The film is directed and written well, showing the darker sides of humanity with all of the people that Yuri meets throughout the movie, from fellow arms dealers, to heads of state and even to Yuri himself. Yuri lies to everyone around him about what he truly is and he goes to great lengths to hide the kind of person he is.
The story doesn’t pull any punches with Yuri, either – he cares more about selling weapons than anything else, even his family.
The story also manages to incorporate historical events into Yuri’s life and business. When given the chance to redeem himself for what he has done with his life, he prefers to go on, and in the end it costs him.
Above all else, the story does one thing that so few movies do nowadays – it makes us think.
“Lord of War” is a good movie that is written and directed well. Nicholas Cage does a good job playing the lead character, and the rest of the cast does a nice job filling in the rest of the movie. Overall, “Lord of War” is a good movie and it’s worth seeing.
– Joseph Cunningham
