Lord of War

Lord of War is based on true events of a compilation of five actual arms traffickers. The movie is a about the rise and fall of Yuri Orlov (Nicolas Cage) from a Ukrainian immigrant who starts selling guns to mobsters to a big time international arms trafficker who is selling off the post cold war Soviet stockpile to a chaotic African Warlord (or is it Lord of War?).

The film also follows Yuri's relationship through the years with his younger brother (Jared Leto), his parents, his marriage, his pursuit by an Interpol agent (Ethan Hawke), and his inner demons that sway between his drive for success and the immorality of what he does.

The film has a near constant flow of action and the classic rock songs ensure a speedy, riveting ride through three decades of global carnage. Cage lets his oddball magnetism slowly change polarity, until we realize that he has led us into a moral quagmire by falling for his self-delusionary spiel about supply and demand. This is one of the blackest comedies that I have seen in a long time.

It has excellent cinematography and sets, with other highpoints being the dialogue between Cage and with Warlord Andre Baptiste (Eamonn Walker) and his son Andre Jr.

Rated R for strong violence, drug use, language and sexuality. Runtime is 122 min.

I give it a 7 out of 10