It’s been nearly two weeks since I watched Lord of War, so this’ll be a brief review, but better late than never, eh?

First off, what struck me during this second watching of Lord of War was how similar, in many ways, it was to Charlie Wilson’s War. They both dealt with serious subjects, and they both put more or less humorous spins on their angles of approach. Or perhaps more precisely, tragi-comic, as they both painted happy faces on what is essentially great tragedies: Charlie Wilson’s effort for the Afghans ended more or less with a kinda Pyrrhic victory, and the story Yuri Orlov told in so amusing a way is the story of how it is possible for peasants in developing countries to murder each other with the stuff resting at the pinnacle of human arms technology development.

That much for the subject matter of the movie. The technical aspects were no less brilliant. The bullet’s story told during the opening credits is a magnificent little creation, and a splendid example of the brilliant way in which this movie was filmed. Furthermore, this is Nicholas Cage in the kind of role he’s meant to play: a quiet, cold and brainy fellow. Unfortunately, he seems to labour under the misapprehension that he’s some kind of action hero, instead of just sticking to the parts he does better than just about anything. The rest of the cast is top-notch too, as is everything else. Heck, even flamin’ Jared Leto works perfectly!

A most highly recommended movie. If you haven’t watched it yet, go rectify, and if you have, go re-watch. Absolutely fantastic stuff. Even the didactic parts work well and are almost a seemless part of the rest of the movie. 10/10.

Be careful what mood you’re in when you watch it, though, because I watched it at a somewhat dark point, and it pushed me over the edge out into something resembling a depression, that took me three days in the sun with Lamb and The Shins to get rid of.