Stars: Nicolas Cage, Ethan Hawke, Jared Leto, Bridget Moynahan, Ian Holm, Sammi Rotibi, Eamonn Walker, Donald Sutherland, Jean-Pierre Nshanian, Jared Burke, Davis Shumbris, Jeremy Crutchley, Shake Tukhmanyan, David Harman

Director: Andrew Niccol

Summary: Based on actual events, this black comedy-drama stars Nicholas Cage as international arms smuggler Uri Orlov. The story follows Uri from his humble beginnings as a Soviet immigrant in 1970s Brooklyn and peaks with his involvement in selling off the stockpiled arsenal of post-Cold War Ukraine to among other top clients the sadistic African dictator Andre Baptiste, Sr. (Eamonn Walker). Jared Leto co-stars as Uri's little brother Vitaly, whose conscience and a burgeoning cocaine problem get in the way of business. Ethan Hawke is good as a sanctimonious Interpol agent with a vendetta against Uri, but the film's biggest dose of onscreen gravitas comes from Walker, whose Baptiste seethes with a heavy, serpent-like malevolence. Written and directed by Andrew Niccol, the film makes fine use of the brisk stream-of-consciousness narration style that Martin Scorcese brought to the true crime genre with 'Goodfellas' (1992), and a near constant flow of action and classic rock songs that ensure a speedy, riveting ride through three decades of global carnage. Cage, who coproduced, lets his patented oddball magnetism slowly change polarity, until viewers realise they've been led into a moral quagmire by falling for his self-delusory spiels about supply and demand, making this one of the bravest and most jet-black comedies of its decade.

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Reviewed by: davybozal24-7
Posted on April 30, 2006 6:18 PM

Nicolas Cage stars as ruthless international arms dealer Yuri Orlov
who is plagued by 3 things ; his junkie brother's wavering morality , a
relentless Interpol cop that he can't pay off ( Ethan Hawke ) and most of all , his conscience . The story tracks Yuri's life over the course of his brilliant , 25 year , arms dealing career . Yuri's suits become as sharp as his patter when business booms in the chaotic aftermath of the Cold War . The movie is refreshing because director Andrew Niccol , allows his audience to do the moral arithmetic for themselves . Very stylish and very funny .

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The lethal business of arms dealers provides an electrifying context for the black-as-coal humor of Andrew Niccol's Lord of War. Having proven his ingenuity as the writer of The Truman Show, and writer-director of Gattaca and the under-appreciated Simone, Niccol is clearly striving for Strangelovian relevance here as he chronicles the rise and inevitable fall of Yuri Orlov (Nicolas Cage), a Ukrainian immigrant to America who makes his fortune selling every kind of ordnance he can get his amoral hands on.

With a trophy wife (Bridget Moynahan) who's initially clueless about his hidden career, and a younger brother (Jared Leto) whose drug-addled sense of decency makes him an ill-chosen accomplice, Yuri traffics in death the way other salesman might push vacuum cleaners (he likes to say that alcohol and tobacco are deadlier products than his), but even he can't deny the sheer ruthlessness of the Liberian dictator (a scene-stealing Eamonn Walker) who purchases Orlov's "products" to expand his oppressive regime. Niccol's themes are even bigger than Yuri's arms deals, and he drives them home with a blunt-force lack of subtlety, but Cage gives the film the kind of insanely dark humour it needs to have. To understand this monster named Yuri, we have to see at least a glimpse of his humanity, which Cage provides as only he can. Otherwise, this epic tale of gunrunnng would be as morally unbearable as the black market trade it illuminates.-- Jeff Shannon

Aspect Ratio:	2.35 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Directors Commentary, Making Of Lord of War, Making A Killing Inside The International Arms Trade, Nicolas Cage Interview, Cast And Crew Interviews, Deleted Scenes, Trailer
Year:	2005
Release Date:	March 6, 2006
Runtime:	117 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	M P 475 D
Keywords:	War, Comedy, Two, General, Lord, Drama, Discs
Genre:	Comedy