Lord of War
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Ethan Hawke, Jared Leto, Bridget Moynahan, Jeffrey Wright, Ian Holm, Sammi Rotibi
Directed by: Andrew Niccol

Lord of War Reviewed by Paul Heath

"There are over 550 million firearms in worldwide circulation. That's one firearm for every twelve people on the planet. The only question is: How do we arm the other 11?"

LORD OF WAR tells the rise and fall story of Nicolas Cage's Yuri Orlov, a gunrunner that starts off selling guns to the local mobsters in his old neighbourhood in Little Odessa, all the way through to selling huge quantities of firearms to dictators of small countries in the mid-1990's.

The film is told through the eyes of the main character, Cage's Orlov, and we're treated to a wonderful opening sequence where we track up to Cage, over the top of thousands and thousands of bullet cartridges. We then follow a bullet from manufacture to being loaded into a gun and then fired into the head of what seems to be a young African. Pretty powerful stuff, which this movie is, but it also has the comedic edge to it that you come to expect from a movie with Nicolas Cage headlining - but alas, this is a serious film - with a message, a number of messages, the main one being the justification of Cage's character, both to himself and to every viewer, selling firearms to anyone that is willing to pay.

I'd heard mixed reviews of this Andrew Niccol directed movie. I myself wasn't a fan of one of his previous film's GATTACA, starring Ethan Hawke, who also supports here. His next film S1MONE, I found cute, but flawed and without the screen presence of Pacino, wouldn't have been half the movie that it is - but remember, this is the guy that wrote possibly one of the best movies of the 1990's, THE TRUMAN SHOW, and he CO-wrote the wonderful movie THE TERMINAL. So LORD OF WAR could go either way. I'm glad to say that it edged into the positive rather than the negative.

It's a huge movie, and takes in locations all over the world (the Czech Republic, New York and South Africa are listed as locations used in filming). It's also a really huge and controversial project undertaken its lead actor, who needs to carry the movie from start to the superb conclusion. The amount of effort and skill that Cage has applied to this project is unbelievable. He is, as he has come to be in almost all of his last few movies, absolutely magnetic, and you can't take your eyes off the screen when he's up there- which is every scene of the movie.

I love all movies that ask a question. Be it, would you sleep with someone for a million dollars? Okay, bad example, but you get where I'm coming from. The question involved with this film is morality. Do you have a problem with this guy selling guns, even if they do fall into the wrong hands? It's obviously a rocky subject, but Niccol's screenplay and direction are on the button and gives balance to both sides of the argument. In fact, one line in the movie sums it all up: "You know who's going to inherit the world? Arms dealers. Because everyone else is too busy killing each other." The rest of the script is also brilliantly constructed and there are some truly wonderful lines, all from the mouth of Cage's character's voice-over. I remember thinking to myself: 'that was a great piece of dialogue', only to discover that another was just around the corner. The film is a credit to Niccol's seemingly glowing CV, and easily up there with the quality of THE TERMINAL and THE TRUMAN SHOW.

As I said, the movie is both funny, thought provoking and indeed touching in places. The scenes that Cage shares with his on-screen brother, played by Jared Leto are wonderfully acted and superbly written and directed.

On the downside, well, as with a few movies that I've seen recently, it's a little overlong. Not heavily, but I feel that the middle section dragged a little. The second negative is that I felt that Ethan Hawke's character drifted in and out of the movie too much, and that he wasn't given more exposure, but then, this movie is told through the eyes of Cage's Orlov, and the only scenes that Hawke appears in are obviously when they meet. I just love Hawke as an actor, and I would have loved to see more of him in this picture.

In all, LORD OF WAR is a must-see for everyone. If you missed it in cinemas, track it down on DVD. Thought provoking, wonderful direction from a brilliant script featuring one of the best performances from one of today's finest actors.

There were no extras features on the DVD copy that I received for review except for a few trailers on the intro, scene selections and disc setup. I will say though that the picture quality is excellent in all scenes and the colours are vibrant and contrasty. The sound quality is also one of the best that I've heard in a while. The rear Dolby Digital channels are used to full advantage, particularly in the African scenes, the plane scene around two thirds in, and also the thrilling opening sequence. One to test your system.

This is a disc you should own, and I've discovered that the March region two release will include a 'making of', some deleted scenes, interviews and a commentary from Andrew Niccol. Even without these, I will add that this is a must. Own this movie!

LORD OF WAR is released on region two DVD on March 6th, 2006 and on region one from 17th January, 2006.

Grade: A-

Paul Heath