Lord of War Is Anti-Gun Propaganda

Title

Lord of War (2005)

Directed by

Andrew Niccol

Writing credits

Andrew Niccol

Selected Cast

Nicolas Cage .... Yuri Orlov
Bridget Moynahan .... Ava Fontaine
Jared Leto .... Vitaly Orlov
Ethan Hawke .... Jack Valentine
Shake Tukhmanyan .... Irina Orlov
Jean-Pierre Nshanian .... Anatoly Orlov
Eamonn Walker .... Andre Baptiste Sr.
Sammi Rotibi .... Andre Baptiste Jr.
Jasper Lenz .... Gregor
Kobus Marx .... Boris
Stephan De Abreu .... Liev
Ian Holm .... Simeon Weisz
Tanya Finch .... Ingrid

Review

Lord of War is the story of a gunrunner who rises to the top and must face the horrors committed with his merchandise.

Lord of War was promoted as a humorous action movie, but it is far from that. WARNING: Spoilers in italics. This film is a dark and depressing tale that closely follows the standard Mafia Don formula: A young immigrant turns to a life of crime, takes some big chances, rises to power, tries to go straight, makes one last deal, and loses everything. Basically, we’ve seen it all before.

Lord of War does not have much of a story, and that is because the film spends too much time preaching to the audience about how terrible guns are. Lord of War naively fails to confront the more serious issue of why wars and genocide have existed throughout most of human history. This issue would make for a good film, but this rather shallow film never once delves into the psychology of a warlord. Why do people kill each other? Certainly, it is not only because they have guns.

Lord of War makes several common film mistakes. The narration is overused, the supporting cast (specifically Ethan Hawke) is underused, and the pacing of the film is far too slow. There just is not much interesting material, and the characters are not engaging.

Lord of War is an overly political movie that has too little substance to go anywhere and does not have much to say. If you want to know the message of Lord of War, it’s very simple: People don’t kill people. Guns kill people. If you agree with this message, you will love Lord of War. If you disagree, you will be very disappointed and annoyed.

Rating (1-10)

4

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