Review of Lord of War (2005) by Josh S — 03 Jul 2011

One of the more unsung movies I had the pleasure of watching, Lord of War stands as a good mix of drama, social commentary, and just a touch of humour to make the whole thing go down easier. Despite slim pickings I find this is Nicholas Cage's best performance I have seen.

The story revolves around the character Yuri Orlov, a Ukrainian born American who chooses to work in the field of illegal arms dealing. The film takes you to the places one in such a trade would work and how he does his business. It shows how he tries more and more to hide and rationalize his line of work and eventually the concequences of his very dark profession. The drama is very good and it has a lot of inormation in it many don't know that is factual about this world of arms dealing.

The Good:

The film is a beautiful move in acting, writing, and editing. The touch of humour makes it much more accessible to what might be a very hard to watch dark movie. The drama of family and love and living with cognitive disonance is really amazing and the narration that gives lots of information on gun running makes it feel more real as while Yuri Orlov is fictional, people like him do exist.

The Bad:

There is a lot of languages in the movie that is flat out not subtitled at least in the version I have. While it might not be important to the film, I felt like I was missing stuff by not knowing what it was. The only parts I did know was where he was in Bolivia and were speaking Spanish because I do as well.

Conclusion:

Solid movie, there is not much action but it is still a visually great movie with solid writing and great acting. A very highly rated movie by me and totaqlly recommended to anyone who like drama.