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IMDbPro

Lord of War

  • 2005
  • 12
  • 2h 2m
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
351K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
2,086
429
Nicolas Cage in Lord of War (2005)
Trailer for this action film starring Nicholas Cage as a gun runner
Play trailer2:08
2 Videos
99+ Photos
True CrimeCrimeDrama

An arms dealer confronts the morality of his work as he is being chased by an INTERPOL Agent.An arms dealer confronts the morality of his work as he is being chased by an INTERPOL Agent.An arms dealer confronts the morality of his work as he is being chased by an INTERPOL Agent.

  • Director
    • Andrew Niccol
  • Writer
    • Andrew Niccol
  • Stars
    • Nicolas Cage
    • Ethan Hawke
    • Jared Leto
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.6/10
    351K
    YOUR RATING
    POPULARITY
    2,086
    429
    • Director
      • Andrew Niccol
    • Writer
      • Andrew Niccol
    • Stars
      • Nicolas Cage
      • Ethan Hawke
      • Jared Leto
    • 541User reviews
    • 164Critic reviews
    • 62Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 2 wins & 3 nominations total

    Videos2

    Lord of War: Blu-Ray
    Trailer 2:08
    Lord of War: Blu-Ray
    Lord of War
    Trailer 2:12
    Lord of War
    Lord of War
    Trailer 2:12
    Lord of War

    Photos194

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    + 188
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    Top cast76

    Edit
    Nicolas Cage
    Nicolas Cage
    • Yuri Orlov
    Ethan Hawke
    Ethan Hawke
    • Jack Valentine
    Jared Leto
    Jared Leto
    • Vitaly Orlov
    Bridget Moynahan
    Bridget Moynahan
    • Ava Fontaine
    Shake Tukhmanyan
    • Irina Orlov
    • (as Shake Toukhmanian)
    Jean-Pierre Nshanian
    • Anatoly Orlov
    Jared Burke
    Jared Burke
    • Ukrainian Mobster
    Eric Uys
    Eric Uys
    • Ukrainian Mobster
    David Shumbris
    David Shumbris
    • Ukrainian Mobster
    Stewart Morgan
    • Ukrainian Mobster
    Jasper Lenz
    • Gregor
    Stephen Gregor
    • Eli Kurtzman
    Kobus Marx
    • Boris
    Stephan De Abreu
    • Liev
    Jeremy Crutchley
    Jeremy Crutchley
    • Arms Fair Salesman
    Ian Holm
    Ian Holm
    • Simeon Weisz
    Tanya Finch
    • Ingrid
    Lize Jooste
    • Natasha
    • Director
      • Andrew Niccol
    • Writer
      • Andrew Niccol
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews541

    7.6350.6K
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    Featured reviews

    8tarekali-19909

    This movie has aged very well

    I recently rewatched this modern classic. Nicholas Cage remains a most accessible and plausible character especially in roles like this, where a clever fellow discerns a golden path to riches and sells his soul during the flawed journey.

    In the IMDB trivia, it is interesting this movie was never funded by US sources, probably because the truth hits a little too close to home, and makes people uncomfortable. As the movie ironically points out, the biggest arms suppliers on the planet are also permanent members of the UN security council.

    Back to the movie itself. Since it is based on real lords of war and warlords, it's coldly terrifying to see how easy the means for mass murder have been made available across the world. As many have noted, it is far easier to kill from a distance than from up close, giving the killers a false sense of morality and deniability.

    This movie has aged very well - the insidious arms trade it highlights is as active and lethal today as it was for the last 100 years. As a beloved game series Fallout points out, "War. War never changes."
    10jon.h.ochiai

    Just Evil Prevails

    Atop a hillside in Liberia overlooking an impending village massacre once the arms deal settles, Nicolas Cage's Yuri pleads to his conscience rattled brother Vitaly (Jared Leto), "It is none of our business!" Writer and Director Andrew Niccol's "Lord of War" is all about the big business of war, and the cost of selling one's soul. That lost soul is Yuri Orlov played masterfully by Nicolas Cage. Cage as Yuri also narrates the story. Niccol sets the warped and dark tone in the opening sequence of the manufacture of a bullet to its final destination—so to speak. Yuri comments that there is one firearm for every 12 people in the world. So the question is "How do we arm the other eleven?" Niccol's "Lord of War" is not so much a clever indictment of humanity, rather an acknowledgment of perhaps humanity's darker nature. In a poignant and chilling realization for Yuri (Cage) he says, "They say that 'evil prevails when good men fail to act.' It should be 'evil prevails'." I don't think this is cynicism on Niccol's part, rather only stating what is so given all of history and now. He certainly makes us think from the inside out.

    Yuri Orlov (Cage) is from a Ukrainian family in Little Odessa, NY. As a young man he has an epiphany witnessing a Russian mafia hit. Being an arms dealer is the path to success. He finds that he also has an innate gift for his chosen profession. He enlists his brother Vitaly (Leto) into the business. "Lord of War" traces the Orlov brothers over the course of 20 years—through the end of the Cold War to the advent of terrorist threats and dictatorships in third world countries. Yuri truly becomes the Lord of War supplying arms to anyone and any country for a profit. He also acts as an independent agent for undisclosed countries supplying arms to "freedom fighters". One gets the drift. Yuri eventually hits his stride and becomes very successful and very wealthy. He marries his trophy bride, supermodel Ava Fontaine (stunning Bridget Moynahan), has a son, and living in a luxury apartment in Manhattan. All the while he eludes the grasp of Interpol Agent Jack Valentine (very good Ethan Hawke), by keeping three steps ahead. Predictably Yuri's world comes crashing in upon him. In a powerful scene with Ava who purposely ignores what her husband really does for a living, Yuri has a conscience meltdown.

    The actors in "Lord of War" are great. Nicolas Cage is such a powerful and versatile actor. I don't think any other actor than himself, could enroll sympathy as arms dealer Yuri. Cage gives Yuri a subtle detached edge and an expert in context. Cage knows he is in morally bankrupt position, and he uses his smarts and sense of humor to rationalize that he only supplies the weapons to men who do evil. Yuri is the ultimate poster child for "Guns don't kill people. People kill people." Jared Leto is surprising as the coke head brother, who eventually cops to the monster he has become—the counterpoint to Yuri. Bridget Moynahan is deceivingly powerful as Ava, the former model aware that her asset of being pretty is fading, and closes her eyes to what her husband does until it is too late. Moynahan is stunningly beautiful and has distinctive grace and vulnerability. Ethan Hawke as Jack Valentine is the intrepid idealist saving the world from the likes of Yuri. Hawke is very strong and compelling.

    Andrew Niccol's "Lord of War" ends and the world continues on. The echoes of Yuri voice, just "evil prevails" is a chilling and poignant reminder. Nicolas Cage is brilliant as the lost soul in "The Lord of War". "The Lord of War" is one the year's best.
    10leilapostgrad

    story-telling perfection

    A movie about a gunrunner who arms the dictators, tyrants, and genocide-perpetrators of the world should not be this deliciously funny. Lord of War is story-telling perfection. The opening scene depicts the life of a bullet, from its creation in the factory to the moment it blasts through the head of a poor African child. Nicolas Cage is Yuri Orlov, the son of Ukrainian immigrants, who becomes the world's most successful arms dealer. Writer/director Andrew Niccol took every major world conflict of the part 25 years and seamlessly incorporated them into a smart, funny, complex story about violence, corruption, and the essence of warfare. Lord of War has no clear-cut, black-or-white, good-or-evil "moral of the story," but no intelligent observation ever does. It's just a fabulous film. "I never sold to Osama Bin Laden," Yuri tells the audience. "Not on moral grounds, but because his checks were always bouncing back then."
    9ScottDMenzel

    Another powerful well-made political drama with an excellent story and a powerful performance by Nicolas Cage

    "Lord of War" is about a man named Yuri (Nicolas Cage) who in the early 80's decides that he doesn't want to just work in a restaurant for the rest of his life and decides that instead he wants to be an arms dealer. Once he makes his first sale, Yuri is hooked on the feeling of making big money for selling firearms, and continues to sell the firearms but he wants more and more of a profit and more and more of a challenge. It's not until an Interpol agent (Ethan Hawke) is hot on Yuri's case that he begins to question the nature of his business and whether what he is doing for a living is moral and if he should be responsible for the hands these weapons get into and what they are used for. A powerful performance by Nicolas Cage, as well as a great thought-provoking movie ensues… I love movies like this one for a few reasons. The main reason is that for the most part you can't predict what is going to happen next or where the film is going. Another reason I like movies like this is because it's powerful and its makes you think. And lastly I like a movie like this because it doesn't end in a typical way and actually leaves you feeling blown-away and surprised.

    The filmed starred Nicolas Cage who lately has done of some the best work of his career. His performance here is top-notch and powerful. There are so many other people in the film including Jared Leto, Ian Holm, Ethan Hawke and Bridget Moynahan to name a few who are also very good at the roles they played. This film is written and directed by Andre Niccol the same man who wrote "The Terminal" and "The Truman Show" so I guess I shouldn't be so surprised by why I actually liked this film so much, it had a good lead actor and a good screenwriter.

    I guess this movie all comes down to how open minded the movie-goers who see this are. I guess it also amounts to where you stand on the political fence. The film is not for those who don't have an open mind about things that are going on in the world today. The movie is based on true events so be warned that some of things shown in the film are happening in real life or did happen at one point in time. To be honest, I do believe what the film states in the end, it doesn't seem at all far fetched. It's like Yuri says in the film "it's not our war and no matter what we do we can't stop it" and that's true it's like smoking kills people every day but there are people who run cigarette companies everyday knowing that they are killing people every single day and getting people addicted to something that in the end will kill them. Is that moral? What can we do to stop it? These are questions this film asks and leaves it to the viewer to decide on.

    So in the end, this movie isn't for everyone. In a sense this film is kind of like the movie "Blow" because it's about a man who feels his life isn't complete without selling something that is bad. He has everything he could ever want but still needs to sell the firearms. It's an amazing and powerful story which I feel really puts things in perspective as far as us Americans look at things. Nicolas Cage's performance is incredible as he seems to not care at all for the people's lives he puts at stake every day and when it comes to his own life he still seems unemotional and doesn't seem to worry. Personally I think this is one of the best film's of year and is in fact just as good as the other political drama currently released called "The Constant Gardner" so if you have an open mind about things and enjoy movies that will make you think, well check out "Lord of War" because it's well worth the price of admission at the theater.

    MovieManMenzel's final rating for "Lord of War" is a 9/10.
    8RatedVforVinny

    Excellent expose on the evil arms trade.

    A kind of dark comedy concerning a crazy, rogue arms trader (Nicholas Cage) and delivers one of his best ever performances (in a film quite like no other). It contains a very serious message throughout and some highly quotable lines to, such as "The 'AK-47' being the biggest weapon of mass destruction, as it's killed more than anything else". The tile is a clever word play and a featured mad dictator who gets everything backwards, such as "Bath of Blood", instead of 'Bloodbath' and "Lord of War" replacing 'Warlord' and so on. Has a ring of a terrible truth, with death, destruction and murder, being such a lucrative trade.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      According to writer and director Andrew Niccol, the filmmakers worked with actual gunrunners in the making of this movie. The tanks lined up for sale were real, and belonged to a Czech arms dealer, who had to have them back to sell to another country. They used a real stockpile of over three thousand vz. 58 from Czech production, which look very similar to the Russian AK-47, because it was cheaper than getting prop guns.
    • Goofs
      When narrating the story about early stages of his business in 1980s, Yuri Orlov mentions that he has carried several passports at that time, including the Ukrainian passport. Ukraine didn't get to issue its own passports until 1992.
    • Quotes

      Yuri Orlov: [Narrating] Of all the weapons in the vast Soviet arsenal, nothing was more profitable than Avtomat Kalashnikova model of 1947, more commonly known as the AK-47, or Kalashnikov. It's the world's most popular assault rifle. A weapon all fighters love. An elegantly simple 9 pound amalgamation of forged steel and plywood. It doesn't break, jam, or overheat. It will shoot whether it's covered in mud or filled with sand. It's so easy, even a child can use it; and they do. The Soviets put the gun on a coin. Mozambique put it on their flag. Since the end of the Cold War, the Kalashnikov has become the Russian people's greatest export. After that comes vodka, caviar, and suicidal novelists. One thing is for sure, no one was lining up to buy their cars.

    • Crazy credits
      Before the end credits roll a message appears stating that the top 5 sellers of arms in the world are China, Russia, the UK, USA, and France - all of whom make up the permanent five members of the UN security council.
    • Alternate versions
      For the US DVD release the aspect ratio of the film was changed to 1,78:1. A few weeks after the initial release the DVD was reissued with the film in its original aspect ratio of 2,35:1.
    • Connections
      Featured in Making a Killing: Inside the International Arms Trade (2006)
    • Soundtracks
      For What It's Worth
      Written by Stephen Stills

      Performed by Buffalo Springfield

      Courtesy of Elektra Entertainment Group

      By arrangement with Warner Strategic Marketing

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    FAQ21

    • How long is Lord of War?Powered by Alexa
    • What is meant by the characters when they refer to an 'end user certificate'?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 4, 2006 (France)
    • Countries of origin
      • Germany
      • United States
      • France
    • Languages
      • English
      • Ukrainian
      • German
      • Spanish
      • Russian
      • French
      • Arabic
      • Turkish
    • Also known as
      • Hombre peligroso
    • Filming locations
      • Bozi Dar aerodrome, Bozi Dar, Czech Republic(Ukrainian ammunition depot)
    • Production companies
      • Entertainment Manufacturing Company
      • VIP 3 Medienfonds
      • Ascendant Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $50,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $24,149,632
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $9,390,144
      • Sep 18, 2005
    • Gross worldwide
      • $72,617,068
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours 2 minutes
    • Sound mix
      • DTS
      • Dolby Digital
      • SDDS
      • Dolby Atmos
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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