Lord of War Review
By Joe Lozito
Gun Funning
I'm beginning to get discouraged about Andrew Niccol. The writer-director who burst onto the scene with 1997's low-budget sci-fi gem "Gattaca" has steadily moved from writing high-concept conceits ("The Truman Show") to low-intelligence farce ("S1m0ne") before landing on "
Lord of War", a dark gun running comedy painfully in search of a statement.
After a bravura opening credit sequence which traces the path of a bullet from manufacture to discharge, Mr. Niccol attempts to do for the illegal arms traders what "Goodfellas" did for the Mob. But once Mr. Niccol has set the tone of the film he has no where to go.
"Lord of War" follows Yuri and Vitaly Orlov (Nicholas Cage and Jared Leto), Ukrainian brothers raised in Brooklyn who find their way into the gun running racket. Yuri is the brains of the outfit, spewing model numbers and statistics like so many rounds of ammunition. Vitaly, on the other hand, is a loose cannon (pun intended). When a nameless dictator decides to pay for his shipment with pure cocaine, it's only a matter of time before Vitaly becomes a liability.
Once you get past casting Mr. Cage and Mr. Leto as Ukrainian brothers (which takes some time) it's easy to get caught up in the film's energy. Mr. Niccol has obviously studied his Scorcese, as well as the work of David O. Russell (of "Three Kings" fame). "Lord" has a brisk pace during its first half as Yuri makes a name for himself in the arms trade while wooing the girl of his dreams, Ava Fontaine (Bridget Moynahan).
Ms. Moynahan, unfortunately, isn't given nearly as much to work with as the wives of Scorcese's leading men; she gets neither the complicity of Lorraine Bracco from "Goodfellas" nor the crash of Sharon Stone from "Casino". Playing a self-proclaimed "trophy wife", Ms. Moynahan has to be content with looking "pretty". Likewise, Mr. Leto, channeling pieces of his superior role in "Requiem for a Dream", is just a series of drug-addled tics. And Ethan Hawke only shows up to serve the plot as the world's most honest Interpol agent.
The latter part of the film, which follows Yuri's inevitable downfall, becomes overly long and self-important as Mr. Niccol struggles to inject his cynicism with a message. While Mr. Niccol's direction is impressive, his script is lacking. Yuri is the only character worth mentioning, though due to his actions he isn't worth caring about. I've never been a huge fan of Nicholas Cage; I find that he is too quick to fall back on his familiar persona (see "National Treasure", "Matchstick Men", "The Family Man", "8MM" and countless others). On the other hand, when he wants to be engaging ("Adaptation", "Leaving Las Vegas", "Raising Arizona") he can still knock it out of the park. "Lord of War" isn't a home run, but it works as well as it does based mostly on Mr. Cage's performance. It's a tribute to his affability that we can watch Yuri for as long as we do. As the world's most introspective arms dealer, what Mr. Cage is best at selling is the film itself.
