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Lord of War Starring
Nicolas Cage, Ethan Hawke, Ian Holm
Rated R
“Lord of War” is a fast-paced satire of modern weaponry obsession that may be
the most entertaining film I’ve seen all year. The film has been compared by
other critics to “Goodfellas,” but “Lord of War” manages to find a strange style
of its own, and has a brilliant Nicolas Cage performance in the lead.
Cage plays Yuri Orlov, a New Yorker who begins
to realize the money to be made in dealing artillery and weapons. Starting out
as an amateurish salesman, Yuri soon becomes one of the wealthiest and most
powerful arms dealers in the world. He sells massive weapons to foreign
dictators, completely unaware of the destruction, genocide and murder his items
are causing around the globe. But that doesn’t stop Yuri from having a family –
he marries Ava (Bridget Moynahan), a model that he has obsessed over for years,
and often hangs with his brother, Vitaly (Jared Leto), who begins a deadly drug
addiction.
Meanwhile, rival arms dealers, such as Simeon
Weisz (Ian Holm), are competing for Yuri’s seemingly global domination of
selling guns, and Interpol Agent Jack Valentine (Ethan Hawke) is constantly
trying to bring down Yuri.
The film, which takes place over
nearly 20 years, gives out a lot of messages about the selling and manufacturing
of guns, but is also cold and blunt when it comes to showing the greediness of
Yuri, who practically stays neutral the entire movie, never acknowledging the
atrocities his products commit. Because of Cage’s great performance, however, we
still seem to care for Yuri, even when his behavior is despicable. As a drama
and as a bleak parody, “Lord of War” is massively entertaining while still
deadly serious, a tough task to achieve in Hollywood these days.
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