Lord of War

An originally approached topic which is intriguing and, most importantly, cleverly and successfully combines chilling scenes with an ironic, jet-black-noir satirical detachedness. Of course, here and there, faults are to be found, but the positives easily outweigh them and mainly this is the type of picture which, in addition to entertaining, force you to think and it remains with you long after - which means a lot. (14.01.2006)

A thriller like Dexter's scalpel or the blade of Zorro's sword. The film, which is based on an excellent script, loosely follows the fortunes of the real-life "hero", the international trader Viktor Bout, who started operating in Angola and made his fortune primarily through arms supplies to West African dictatorships and pseudo-democracies. It is not important that the film trader, brilliantly played by Nicolas Cage, differs from his model in many details and more significant aspects (Bout's family background was completely different, and he was a man who rose to prominence as a citizen of the Soviet Union and as an instructor in the Soviet Army operating under friendly regimes). Many of the anecdotes depicted in the film did not happen to him, but they have a very concrete basis in real clashes between smugglers and Interpol. The screenwriter essentially collected a series of true stories, dressed them up, added some dark sarcastic lines, and handed them over to the director, who made a thriller based not on the depicted action but on the attractiveness of the subject matter and the suspenseful life story of one adventurer. The opening shots resemble Fincher's directing style, as the viewer follows the "life" of a bullet from its birth in an undisclosed arms factory, and its journey to the client until it ends up in the middle of a mercenary's forehead. The film doesn't give the viewer anything for free, and even in moments when the viewer laughs, it will also send a chill down their spine from what is depicted on the screen. The main character is a businessman who subordinates everything to his business and is proud to be number one in his industry, regardless of the bloody trail he leaves behind. Overall impression: 100%. (29.11.2008)

Evil wins and Cage is back in form! This film very realistically portrays the life of an arms dealer who ruthlessly cashes in on social movements and political violence. The pace is brisk, the visuals are breathtaking and the plot is excellent! Thrilling, violent, ironic, stylish and very good! (05.01.2014)

Probably the best movie about trafficking ever to see the light of day. Lord of War is very true to life and made with the precision of a documentary, covering the whole era of illegal weapon trafficking since the 80s. Our guide is none other than one of the very best “Lords of War", Yuri Orlov (Nicolas Cage). When we see him for the first time in Little Odessa he is a regular guy like anybody else, someone with dreams who finds out one day that he has a talent for making his dreams come true. So he starts dealing in weapons. On a small scale at first, but because he is good at it and also lucky, he works his way up to the very top. Isn’t time to start living your dreams now? Yuri thinks it is and starts. His first and most precious trophy is a woman of his dreams, Ava Fontaine (Bridget Moynahan), the type of beautiful model that he has dreamed of for years the part with the “accidental" encounter belongs to my favorite scenes in the movie, genius ;-). The cold war is over and business is running smoothly, life can’t be better than it is right now. But nothing lasts forever. Interpol is keen to get their hands on Mr. Orlov (by the way that isn’t his real name) mainly secret agent Jack Valentine who is one of the best in his field. But there is one thing worse than Interpol or military dictators. A conscience. Would they be capable of living knowing that they are responsible for the deaths of millions of people? Andrew Niccol made sure that the perfectly thought through story, based on true events, had all it needed to strike home in the viewer and make him think. Right from the start, the credits sequence “about a life span of a bullet" shows how hugely talented the director is, demonstrating similar qualities as in his previous movie Gattaca. On top of it all, great camerawork and superb acting performances enhance the quality of the whole experience of a movie about a man who made it so far that he lost everybody that ever cared for him, including himself. (17.08.2006)

At a time when the most profitable business is terrorism, such artistic experiments are very necessary. Andrew Niccol has once again proven himself to be a perceptively intelligent filmmaker who knows very well what he is talking about. Lord of War doesn't tell anything new, but with a great deal of irony it glosses the current international situation, full of military conflicts, especially in third world countries, and makes a lot of insightful and pertinent observations ("There's nothing more expensive for an arms dealer than peace." [...] "All right, forget it. I'll reroute the shipment to the Balkans. When they say they're going to have a war, they keep their word!”) It's just a pity that the film sometimes slips unnecessarily into family melodrama. Five years ago I had already given up on Cage, but lately he seems to have resurrected, going from one interesting role to another. Carry on. (02.03.2006)