Lord of War

Thematically interesting, full of clever observations and excellent directorial ideas, but so genre-bending that it's hard to believe. Andrew Niccol is a smart filmmaker who knows how to captivate the audience and sell his product. Unfortunately, in Lord of War not everything works perfectly. It alternates between sharp satire and dramatic storylines, only to be followed by a patchwork of family melodrama about the meaning of life, doing the right things, and not doing the wrong ones. Additionally, there is an excessive simplicity and corner-cutting in some details. For example, we don’t get to know how Yuri climbed up the ladder so high, where he suddenly got all the contacts, and how he could always easily outsmart authorities. The scenes with the plane disassembly are undoubtedly brilliant, but unfortunately, the whole film is emotionally lacking any impact, and the pace is gripping also sporadically. (05/09/2006)

A thriller like Dexter's scalpel or the blade of Zorro's sword. The film, which is based on an excellent script, loosely follows the fortunes of the real-life "hero", the international trader Viktor Bout, who started operating in Angola and made his fortune primarily through arms supplies to West African dictatorships and pseudo-democracies. It is not important that the film trader, brilliantly played by Nicolas Cage, differs from his model in many details and more significant aspects (Bout's family background was completely different, and he was a man who rose to prominence as a citizen of the Soviet Union and as an instructor in the Soviet Army operating under friendly regimes). Many of the anecdotes depicted in the film did not happen to him, but they have a very concrete basis in real clashes between smugglers and Interpol. The screenwriter essentially collected a series of true stories, dressed them up, added some dark sarcastic lines, and handed them over to the director, who made a thriller based not on the depicted action but on the attractiveness of the subject matter and the suspenseful life story of one adventurer. The opening shots resemble Fincher's directing style, as the viewer follows the "life" of a bullet from its birth in an undisclosed arms factory, and its journey to the client until it ends up in the middle of a mercenary's forehead. The film doesn't give the viewer anything for free, and even in moments when the viewer laughs, it will also send a chill down their spine from what is depicted on the screen. The main character is a businessman who subordinates everything to his business and is proud to be number one in his industry, regardless of the bloody trail he leaves behind. Overall impression: 100%. (29/11/2008)

Nicolas Cage has appeared in many good movies. Nicolas Cage has appeared in good movies. Nicolas Cage has appeared in bad movies. Nicolas Cage has appeared in many bad movies. And he has also appeared in absolute nonsense. "Lord of War" falls into the category of good movies and it is thanks to Nicolas Cage's performance, who is great both as a narrator and as the main character. His voice is just right to make you believe everything happening on the screen. And there is a lot happening. However, I must say right at the beginning that the film tries to be overtly gritty, it wants to shock, but it is not such a masterpiece in that sense. "Lord of War" is a story about a man who essentially worked his way up from nothing to become one of the best arms dealers. You might think it's a dream job. Lots of money, occasional action, beautiful women, different corners of the world, but it's not that easy. What about your families? What about the woman you have dreamt of? And what about your conscience? Can you deal with all the violence you enable? Is it enough to tell yourself that you are not the one pulling the trigger, that you are not actually a killer? More: http://www.filmovy-denik.cz/2012/10/prach-uspesna-pokracovani-animaku.html (01/03/2013)

An originally approached topic which is intriguing and, most importantly, cleverly and successfully combines chilling scenes with an ironic, jet-black-noir satirical detachedness. Of course, here and there, faults are to be found, but the positives easily outweigh them and mainly this is the type of picture which, in addition to entertaining, force you to think and it remains with you long after - which means a lot. (14/01/2006)

At a time when the most profitable business is terrorism, such artistic experiments are very necessary. Andrew Niccol has once again proven himself to be a perceptively intelligent filmmaker who knows very well what he is talking about. Lord of War doesn't tell anything new, but with a great deal of irony it glosses the current international situation, full of military conflicts, especially in third world countries, and makes a lot of insightful and pertinent observations ("There's nothing more expensive for an arms dealer than peace." [...] "All right, forget it. I'll reroute the shipment to the Balkans. When they say they're going to have a war, they keep their word!”) It's just a pity that the film sometimes slips unnecessarily into family melodrama. Five years ago I had already given up on Cage, but lately he seems to have resurrected, going from one interesting role to another. Carry on. (02/03/2006)