Movie Haiku - Lord Of War

www.lordofwarthemovie.com


Dir: Andrew Nicol


Cast: Nicolas Cage, Jared Leto, Bridget Moynahan, Ethan Hawke


He'll sell you some guns

or he could bore you to death

with his voiceover


Lord Of War starts with an ingenious set of opening credits which follow the journey of a bullet right through from creation to embedding itself into some poor soldier’s cranium. It’s rather a shame that the CGI is all too obvious, but full marks for effort. Sadly this is the most inventive bit of the whole movie. We’re then introduced to our main protagonist, Yuri Orlov (Cage) who makes a living as an arms dealer, always keeping one step ahead of the law, in the shape of agent Jack Valentine (Hawke). His trophy wife (Moynahan) and family lead the good life, oblivious to the reality of where their wealth is coming from. Only brother Vitali (Leto) knows the truth, reluctantly accompanying Yuri on some of his business trips until his conscience finally gets the better of him and forces him to make a stand. Based on ‘actual events’ this portrait of the life of an independent arms trader is an interesting concept with a contemporary resonance, but unfortunately it’s completely lacking in any story dynamic. Instead we just watch Yuri travelling the globe brokering deal after deal, with his soporific narration detailing every move. A series of increasingly tense trades with a Monrovian warlord – where he’s forced to eliminate his competition (Ian Holm in a brief cameo) and his fidelity is tested to the limit – lift the gloom, but for the most part this is a stupefying test of patience. Nicolas Cage, normally charismatic, is strangely miscast here delivering a lifeless performance. It isn’t helped that by his very nature, the character of Yuri is hardly sympathetic for the audience to warm to, so there’s little emotional investment in the proceedings. This is Lord Of War’s biggest inherent problem. Had the filmmakers perhaps followed the example of say Heat, and fleshed out the character of Valentine making it more of a two-handed cat-and-mouse game then it might have improved things. As it is, Hawke is sorely under-used and his role under-developed. It’s certainly a film with something to say but sadly does it in a very dull manner – less Lord Of War, more Lord Of Bore.

soulmining rating: **