Lord of War (2006, DVD)

My wife can t stand Nicholas Cage, but I don t share her opinion; I think he is one of the most talented and versatile actors on the silver screen today. And he pops up in the strangest movies, like Lord of War (2005), which is based on actual events.

You know who going to inherent the Earth? Arms dealers, everyone else is too busying killing each other.

Directed by Andrew Niccol (Gattaca), Lord of War is narrated by one Yuri Orlov portrayed by Cage (Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Raising Arizona, 8mm) a Ukrainian immigrant growing up in New York City s Little Odessa. Not content to go into the family restaurant business, he becomes an arms dealer and takes us on a journey through his life as the supplier of arms to the evil, violent, and unenlightened rules of (mostly) Africa throughout the last two decades.

At first business wasn t all that good, but then the Iron Curtain fell and business started to boom, and Yuri meets Ava Fontaine portrayed by Bridget Moynahan (Coyote Ugly, Whipped, I Robot) the woman he has lusted after for quite some time. Meanwhile he dumps his additive personality brother Vitaly portrayed by Jared Leto (My So-Called Life, Urban Legend, Fight Club) and goes it alone and make tons of money in the process. Through it all over the course of twenty years or so Yuri is pursued by Interpol agent Jack Valentine portrayed by Ethan Hawke (Snow Falling on Cedars, Training Day, Assault on Precinct 13), who catches up to him in the end only to have to let him go, because Yuri is more than he seems.

My Thoughts

An overly long movie Lord of War is a violent affair that never really gets at the heart of Yuri s job as a gun runner, though at one point he does state that he is in this reprehensible business because he s good at it. Cage does an excellent job as both the tortured amoral arms dealer and as the narrator, while Moynahan is little more than eye candy until the tail end of the movie. Cage makes Yuri into a complicated and intellectually fascinating character by infusing dark humor, guilt, and wit. At every turn, and in the face of every challenging scene, Cage makes Yuri everything but boring.

In the end Lord of War is a biting testimony to the human condition, the ever swirling vortex of evil that allows man to pray on his fellow man with such vicious delight. At one point Yuri quips that the axiom All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing, should be shortened to All it takes for evil to flourish is evil. I have to say I agree with that sentiment; the world seems to be flying apart sun up by a nexus of evil intent and deeds. Yuri personifies this nexus, as the human race slides into a moral vacuum destined to destroy us. Lord of War is a movie, but based on actual events called the world.