Dir. Andrew Niccol, US, 2005, 122 mins
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Jared Leto, Bridget Moynahan, Ian Holm, Ethan Hawke
Screenwriter and director Andrew Niccol's follow up to the ill-fated and maligned The Terminal (for which he wrote the screenplay) aims to be perceived as a biting satire about the developed world's parasitic exploitation of war torn Third-World countries, conveyed through the witticisms of Ukrainian born immigrant Yuri Orlov (Cage) - a charismatic and larger than life international gunrunner. What the director delivers instead is an overly ambitious effort with an uneven tone, which is overshadowed by the established persona of the star himself.
The film opens with a striking and contradictory sequence tracing the lifespan of a single bullet through it's production process accompanied by the strains of Buffalo Springfield's hippie anti-war anthem 'For What It's Worth'. Filmed from the POV of a the solitary shiny bullet we are taken on it's journey directly into the skull of a prepubescent African soldier. The introduction shows Orlov standing on a carpet of bullet casements in his pristine business suit directly addressing the camera a la a middle-aged version of Ferris Bueller, spewing a series of statistics worthy of any good salesman and pondering how to convince the remaining 11 out of 12 unarmed prospective consumers worldwide to equip themselves with his wares.
This establishing scene highlights both the strengths and inherent weaknesses in Niccol's ambitious film. With its slick slo-mo special effects, over reliance on the heavy handed voiceover technique and a lively soundtrack Lord of War celebrates and glamorises the 'weapons of mass destruction' and violence the film seems to be trying to devalue and criticise.
Taking the form of a standard biopic (like Blow, Boogie Nights and Goodfellas) the film, swapping between black scathing comedy and melodrama, takes us through the typical rise and fall character arc of the assigned morally bankrupt gunrunner/self-made businessman. Introducing Orlov in 1982 as a disgruntled and aimless young man in his family run restaurant in Little Odessa on the eager lookout for a get rich scheme the film traces his rise as a major player in the international trafficking of illegal firearms over two decades (and amazingly the 41 year old actor doesn't age one bit). His epiphany soon comes when he inadvertently stumbles across a mob hit in a local restaurant. Our ambitious and quick talking anti-hero soon realises that his destiny 'lay in fulfilling another basic need'.
Enlisting the help of his addiction prone brother Vitali (the beautiful and under-used Leto in a more prominent if underdeveloped role) as his reluctant partner the pair enter the ever-lucrative gun trade realising that 'the real money is in real wars between real countries'. Soon they are travelling the globe and selling off second hand weapons from former war zones and playing a game of cat and mouse with righteous rule following Interpol agent Jack Vallentine (Hawke). They may peddle the weapons that kill nine out of ten war victims without any sense of bias but hey, they aren't so amoral as to sell to Osama Bin Laden - not out of any sense of right and wrong, mind you, but because he has a reputation for 'bouncing checks'.
The film is full of contradictions, obvious from those initial scenes, but Niccol tries too hard to please everyone and throws too many convoluted subplots into the mix including in a soulless love interest in Ava Fontaine (Moynahan) who becomes Yuri's trophy wife, skirting around more interesting areas such as the interesting father/son relationship between Orlov and his major competitor Simeon Weisz (Holm). It tries too hard to be all things to all people and therefore winds up feeling uneven and unstructured with frequent changes in tone, which fail to sit comfortably.
The choice of the larger than life persona of Nicolas Cage in the lead, while understandably ironic given his association with the action genre, particularly his role as Castor Troy in John Woo's (the master of cinematic stylised violence) Face/Off, proves a hazardous/problematic choice. Cage, who quickly switched to playing action heroes (and villains) after scooping the Best Actor Oscar for the critically acclaimed Leaving Las Vegas, is renowned for appearing in films which celebrate the visually seductive appeal of gunplay in films. An actor who invariably hams it up for the cameras, Cage is just too big for the part and invokes collective memories of his previous leading roles bringing nothing new to the part. Niccol explained the casting decision and desire to make the anti-hero Orlov likeable in a blasé 'I wanted the devil to be charming' but the result is exaggerated and ultimately unconvincing.
In its favour the cinematography is impressive - contrasting the institutions of the US of A in dull grey tones and drab lighting and portraying the exotic beauty of far off lands in colourful wide-angle shots. Leto is refreshing as the sensitive brother with a conscience who disapproves of his brother's line of work. In this modern capitalist world, however, sensitivity equals weakness and means you are messed up. Sadly Lord Of War never fully realises the promise hinted at in its early scenes. Had Niccol limited and focused his attention somewhat it could have been an entirely more striking and influential film but a reluctance to be politically incorrect and 'bite the bullet' as it were and make his characters something more than one dimensional has resulted in a vacuous and limp film which will flounder and disappear into obscurity very quickly.
Lorna Allen
Momentum Pictures have announced the UK Region 2 DVD release of Lord of War for 6th March 2006 priced at £17.99.
Written and directed by Andrew Niccol (The Truman Show, Gattaca, S1m0ne) Lord of War is released as a two-disc set with the following special features:
- Director’s Commentary
- Making of piece
- Piece on real gun runners
- Deleted scenes
- Weapons gallery
- Interviews
- Director's photo gallery
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