It is always the most interesting of films that use as their main protagonist an anti-hero, a man whose work we would generally find repugnant, though we may not hate the man himself. Lord of War is just such a film, focusing on Ukrainian immigrant Yuri Orlov (Cage), a man who, bored of working in his father's restaurant, decides to join the far more exciting and lucrative market in gun running. With a starting date of the early 1980s we follow Orlov as he winds his slippery way through every major real-world conflict, buying and selling weaponry to whoever will pay the price, and not caring about the moral effects of his nefarious actions.
Now, while Lord of War is another Three Kings-esque ride through an historical moral quandry (of the most recent kind), it lacks some of the sharpness of the latter not only in presenting its case but in coming to some kind of conclusion about the work in question. Orlov's rise to power is only briefly focused upon and while it appears that there is some kind of conflict with fellow arms dealer Simon Weisz (Holm) you don't really see the two men jockeying for position at all. Orlov suddenly comes into possession of a few guns, sells them, and all of a sudden he's running around Beirut and Africa shipping military helicopters and tanks to warlords from his Uncle's personal stash of ex-Soviet equipment. The clear difficulties in becoming one of the world's focal points for illegal military equipment is brushed over, leaving the viewer to just suddenly accept that Orlov is now a big player.
Despite this problem Lord of War is still a highly competent chronicle of all that is wrong with modern non-state proliferation. It has some very pointed things to say about US involvement in this trade, with them using Orlov to further their goals whilst keeping their own hands clean. Cage himself is well-cast as the morally ambiguous Orlov, seeing himself in a trade that would exist with or without him, and who justifies his acts merely as arming the defenceless. His every move however is tracked by tenacious Interpol agent Jack Valentine (Hawke), whose moral righteousness is the perfect foil to Orlov. His own sense of justice and duty often forces him to let Orlov go, even if without evidence he is still blatantly guilty.
Writer/director Niccol does a good, cerabral/MTV job of presenting the story, flashing all around the globe at lightning speed leaving only a little thought for reflection. Though it could have been more personal at times the sheer seriousness and clear-cut immorality of the film's central focus only requires the most subtle of touches. Anything else might have just been flashing a neon sign stating 'THIS IS BAD' in the viewer's face. The film's ambiguous ending, though disappointing to a goody-two-shoes like me, was also fitting. There will always be a place for these men, unfortunately. |
