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Movies / Upcoming / Lord of War
Lord of War

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Lord of War (2005)

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Reviews Counted:138

Fresh:85

Rotten:53

Average Rating:6.2/10

Consensus: While Lord of War is an intelligent examination of the gun trade, it is too scattershot in its plotting to connect.

Runtime: 2 hrs 2 mins

Genre: Thriller, Theatrical Release

US Box Office: $24,033,036

Synopsis: Based on actual events, this black comedy/drama stars Nicholas Cage as international arms smuggler Uri Orlov. The story follows Uri from his humble beginnings as a Soviet immigrant in 1970s... Based on actual events, this black comedy/drama stars Nicholas Cage as international arms smuggler Uri Orlov. The story follows Uri from his humble beginnings as a Soviet immigrant in 1970s Brooklyn and peaks with his involvement in selling off the stockpiled arsenal of post-Cold War Ukraine to--among other top clients--the sadistic African dictator André Baptiste, Sr. (Eamonn Walker). Jared Leto costars as Uri's little brother Vitaly, whose conscience and a burgeoning cocaine problem get in the way of business. Ethan Hawke is good as a sanctimonious Interpol agent with a vendetta against Uri, but the film's biggest dose of onscreen gravitas comes from Walker, whose Baptiste seethes with a heavy, serpent-like malevolence. Written and directed by Andrew Niccol, the film makes fine use of the brisk stream-of-consciousness narration style that Martin Scorcese brought to the true crime genre with GOODFELLAS (1992), and a near constant flow of action and classic rock songs that ensure a speedy, riveting ride through three decades of global carnage. Cage, who coproduced, lets his patented oddball magnetism slowly change polarity, until viewers realize they've been led into a moral quagmire by falling for his self-delusory spiels about supply and demand, making this one of the bravest and most jet-black comedies of its decade. [More]

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

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Ethan Hawke, Jared Leto, Bridget Moynahan, Ian Holm, Sammy Rotibi, Eamonn Walker

Director: Andrew Niccol

Director: Andrew Niccol
Screenwriter: Andrew Niccol
Producer: Philippe Rousselet, Norm Golightly
Composer: Antonio Pinto
Producer: Nicolas Cage
Studio: Lions Gate Films

[See More Credits]

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Reviews for Lord of War

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41 - 60 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

A battle to sit through.

Full Review Source: Boulder Weekly | comment Comment
09/23/05
Thomas Delapa
Thomas Delapa
Boulder Weekly

The approach to Yuri’s tale is an interesting one as Cage and Niccol never break their poker faces in trying to make him any more or any less than what he actually is.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
09/22/05
Erik Childress
Erik Childress
eFilmCritic.com

Amid all the spent bullets and criticisms of our current president, there still is room for irony in "Lord of War." Unintentional, yes, but it's there.

Full Review Source: Bangor Daily News (Maine) | comment Comment
09/22/05
Christopher Smith
Christopher Smith
Bangor Daily News (Maine)

The remainder of Andrew Niccol’s film is so conservatively directed that the opening’s audacious style is missed.

Full Review Source: Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia) | comment Comment
09/22/05
Mark Palermo
Mark Palermo
Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

Starts out the work of a filmmaker well aware that he's dealing with a visual medium and ends up as the work of a filmmaker who's retreated into preachy speechifying.

Full Review Source: Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) | comment Comment
09/22/05
Ken Hanke
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

An interesting study of an unrepentant louse.

Full Review Source: Fantastica Daily | comment Comment
09/21/05
Chuck O'Leary
Chuck O'Leary
Fantastica Daily

Moral ambiguity has rarely been so well done on screen.

Full Review Source: Aisle Seat | comment Comment
09/20/05
Mike McGranaghan
Mike McGranaghan
Aisle Seat

Nicolas Cage gives a great performance as a man you would never want to meet or spend two hours with in a theater.

Full Review Source: jackiekcooper.com | comment Comment
09/20/05
Jackie K. Cooper
Jackie K. Cooper
jackiekcooper.com

This is Niccol’s bravest movie to date, and it is an unquestionably brilliant work.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
09/20/05
David Cornelius
David Cornelius
eFilmCritic.com

A great, bleak satire that only succombs to unevolved sentimentality from time to time.

Full Review Source: Film Snobs | comment Comment
09/20/05
Jimmy O
Jimmy O
Film Snobs

Cage blunts the film’s message by his over-acting, turning it into a film that’s not quite serious drama, not quite comedy, and not quite good.

Full Review Source: Sean the Movie Guy | comment Comment
09/20/05
Sean McBride
Sean McBride
Sean the Movie Guy

A raffishly ironic and insinuating movie -- and probably the most sheerly enjoyable film of the year so far.

Full Review Source: New Yorker | comment Comment
09/20/05
David Denby
David Denby
New Yorker
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

I just wish the film made its points about guns and governments better, and less heavy-handedly.

Full Review Source: EricDSnider.com | comment Comment
09/20/05
Eric D. Snider
Eric D. Snider
EricDSnider.com

Don't go in expecting a standard Nicolas Cage adventure and you'll be pleasantly surprised how good this is.

Full Review Source: Eclipse Magazine | comment Comment
09/19/05
Michelle Alexandria
Michelle Alexandria
Eclipse Magazine

This issue deserves a serious airing, which it doesn't get in a movie this slick and morally bankrupt.

Full Review Source: Salt Lake Tribune | comment Comment
09/19/05
Sean Means
Sean Means
Salt Lake Tribune

I don’t mean the suggest that the film’s cynicism is a bad thing, a negative attribute. How can you not be cynical in the face of this?

Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | comment Comment
09/19/05
MaryAnn Johanson
MaryAnn Johanson
Flick Filosopher

Nicolas Cage delivers the guns and the goods. Powerful images compliment a gripping story.

Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
09/18/05
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com

Niccol and Cage make the downward spiral an entertaining journey — so fiercely entertaining that it takes an eternity to realize how just how hard we’ve been sucker-punched.

Full Review Source: Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas) | comment Comment
09/18/05
Jonathan R. Perry
Jonathan R. Perry
Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)

Andrew Niccol keeps the film interesting with frenzied camerawork and startling imagery. It's too bad the story itself didn't take as many chances.

Full Review Source: Juicy Cerebellum | comment Comment
09/18/05
Alex Sandell
Alex Sandell
Juicy Cerebellum

Messy and ill-defined, and as scattershot as its grand topic.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
09/18/05
Marjorie Baumgarten
Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle
 
 
41 - 60 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
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