It is my sad duty to report that the smartest, angriest and most disturbingly entertaining film of the year appears to have tanked pretty miserably at the box office. But if you allowed Lord of War to slip through the theaters without giving it a look, you'll get a chance to make up for your mistake when the DVD comes out. I just hope there's a good "making of" documentary on the disc, 'cause you just know there have to be some pretty interesting stories behind the film's story.
Try to imagine an unholy collaboration between Martin Scorsese, Evelyn Waugh and the 60 Minutes investigative team and you'll get some idea of the flavor of this tale of an international arms merchant, Yuri Orlov (Nicolas Cage, cashing in some of the clout he's earned with silly Jerry Bruckheimer movies), and how he does business. Like Scorsese's GoodFellas, the film is a zippy, fast-paced tour of the netherworld, narrated by the kind of man who can sit at a table on a hillside overlooking a small African village and negotiate a weapons sale, knowing full well that upon the conclusion of the sale his customers are going to use their new toys on that very same village. He's also the kind of man who knows exactly what to do when he's stuck on a slow-moving cargo ship full of illegal weapons and an Interpol gunboat is coming to intercept him. Hint: It definitely pays to have a cell phone and a trunk full of assorted national flags.
Lord of War doesn't cheat or lose its nerve. Yuri lives in an elastic moral universe where a psychopath who sanctions the mutilation of children can change — faster than you can say "Jonas Savimbi" — into a staunch ally in the war on terror, with all the benefits accruing to such. One of the film's many strengths is that while it sets us up to expect some kind of cheesy Hollywood-style redemption for Yuri, this is really the story of how he learns to accept and even enjoy his place in this tainted world.
Andrew Niccol's previous movies rose and fell on the strength of their gimmicks: a clever one sustained Gattica, and a stupid one pulled down S1m0ne. Here he takes on a big subject with an international setting, and he handles it like a master. No doubt he'll have to make a few more wind-up toy movies to recover from the failure of Lord of War, but I have no doubt we'll see something equally ambitious from him, a few years down the line.
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Originally published in The Opinion Mill.
Article comments
1 - Joanie
Now THIS is a review! Good job!
2 - Connie Phillips
I saw this movie and thought it would have had better box office numbers than it did.
It was a good story, though I found that Yuri was almost too cold to his surroundings.
I think the story of how arms deals "messed up" the brother's life to be just as powerful of a sidestory.
3 - Phillip Winn
I'm surprised this movie isn't doing better. Maybe lots of people are like me: I would have seen it in the theater, but Nicholas Cage disgusts me. I watch many of his movies (he picks good movies), but only on DVD. Most -- if not all -- of his movies would be better with someone else in the starring role, I think.
Then again, he picks some darned good movies, as I suspect this one is.
4 - Temple A. Stark
Late notice but,
This post was chosen by the section editor as a BC pick of the week. Go HERE (link) to find out why.
And thank you
- Temple