In Lord of War, Nicholas Cage stars as Yuri Orlov, an arms dealer. He decides to get out of the family restaurant business in Brooklyn, and seek his fortune by selling arms across the world's conflicts.
This is all based on a true story. We follow Yuri, and his brother Vitaly (played by Jared Leto) over twenty years, and through conflicts across South America, Europe, and Africa. The locations are excellent, believable and well done.
There are some great scenes, such as when they need to rename a freighter to conceal its identity from investigating officials. The part when Cage gets upset that his shipment of arms is not needed because of "peace talks" was also well done. There is also a counterpoint love story with Yuri's wife, Ava, played by Bridget Moynahan. His wife generally turns a blind eye to her husband's arm dealing profession, as long as he produces his stellar income.
It's often not quite so easy to adapt a story over a long time period, to a single film. At times I wanted more detail, and others, I wanted to move along more quickly. In the end, the History Channel version of this topic, as a documentary, would have been more informative, and probably at least as entertaining. Consider this movie if you are a Nicholas Cage fan. Others may want to pass.
Overall Grade: B-
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