Lord of War film review

certificate_15

LORD OF WAR

As far as Yuri Orlov is concerned, the fact that one in every twelve people in the world possesses a gun is a very good thing. He just wishes there was an easy way of arming the other eleven. Orlov, as played by Nicolas Cage in his new film, is a gun runner, and is evangelical about his product. To him guns are both evil and necessary and if anyone is going to make money out of selling them, it's going to be him.

Andrew Niccol has written and directed a thought-provoking film that convincingly takes the viewer into a world that is rarely depicted on screen. Yuri, a Ukrainian immigrant living on Coney Island, decides as a young man that guns will be his life - it's either that or swilling borscht in his parents' restaurant. And so we are taken on a brisk ride through the dark side of the international weapons' trade - Niccol's flamboyant directorial style is reminiscent of Scorsese, with Cage's ever-present voiceover giving the film a Goodfellas edge.

There are plenty of engaging and entertaining scenes from the very beginning of the film when we follow a bullet from the factory to the unnamed shanty town where it is eventually used. Yuri's desperate (and clever) attempts to evade capture while in charge of a weapon-laden ship in the Pacific, his profiteering at the end of the Cold War and his cat and mouse relationship with rival seller Ian Holm all make for good viewing.

The effect on Yuri's family life is also examined, as his picture perfect wife (Bridget Moynihan) sits in their expensive apartment under the impression that her husband is simply a very successful businessman. The relative ease with which Yuri makes his millions is threatened when an Interpol agent (Ethan Hawke) makes it his very personal business to bring his arch-enemy down.

The film's most engaging sequence is also its most problematic. At the beginning of the 90s, Yuri spends a great deal of time dealing with the Liberian leader Andre Baptiste (the excellent Eamonn Walker). But here it is evident that both characters are portrayed in a positive light: a terrifying warlord has a joke for all occasions, while Cage's somewhat despicable character is almost seen as a figure for good. Cage is such a likeable screen presence that it's very easy to forget that his character is actually selling death. The other main criticism of the film is that Yuri's brother Vitaly (Jared Leto) is too one-dimensional. His final change from drug addict to preacher of peace fails to ring true.