Review of Lord Of War

Introduction

Nicolas Cage is Nicolas Cage in yet another Nicolas Cage film. That sounds negative, but it`s not meant to be. I almost always enjoy watching Nicolas Cage, even in below par remakes such as Gone in 60 Seconds. After his action hero period (1996/7), encompassing The Rock, Con Air and Face/Off (all very enjoyable popcorn action films) he picked off a few different roles, chucking in a few more action films along the way.

Now he`s also a producer, and Lord Of War is a film that he has produced and starred in. Written and directed by Andrew Niccol, it`s the story of an international arms dealer named Yuri Orlov. He and his brother go into the arms trade. They make lots of money, and get into some other things like cocaine. Yuri gets married along with way, starts trading in Africa and he is being constantly hunted by law enforcer Jack Valentine. Their paths keep crossing, but will Valentine ever pin anything on the Teflon Uri.

Video

Presented here in its original aspect ratio, we have a 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer. I mention this specifically as the region 1 disc was presented as 1.78:1, thus missing parts of the picture. It`s up to the standard of your usual Hollywood blockbuster, despite the fact that this was almost exclusively financed outside Hollywood (given its subject material and not particularly pro-American stance). The image is clean and crisp, detail levels are good, colours are nice, and everything looks just right.

One or two good action set pieces here too, including landing a plane on a rutted desert road.

Audio

A DD5.1 soundtrack is presented here, and it`s one that does the job nicely. This film isn`t really all out action, but there are plenty of action sequences that require a good soundtrack, and they get it. Lots of atmospheric sounds (I was looking around the room at one point), plenty of gunfire and a few things blowing up. A good complement to the visuals. The score and incidental music also work well, including Leonard Cohen`s haunting Hallelujah performed by Jeff Buckley. If you recognise the song, it`s probably from Shrek of all places!

A dts ES soundtrack is available on the region 1 DVD.

Features

A selection of extras spread across this 2 disc set.

On disc one, we have an audio commentary from Andrew Niccol, and he talks a lot about the background to the film, how it was financed, and how the best way to get lots of guns to appear in your film is to buy them from an arms dealer, use them and then send them back when you`re done! He also talks about finding and filming in various locations, and it`s an interesting track overall.

Moving off to disc 2, we start with a couple of featurettes. One is the usual "making of" which has behind the scenes footage and interviews in the normal way. "Making A Killing" is a feature on the arms trade itself, and it basically reinforces some of the issues raised in the film, with lots from Amnesty about the problems caused by shipping arms to developing countries.

You also get some deleted scenes, interviews with various cast and crew members, and a trailer.

Conclusion

If you don`t know much about the international arms trade, this one could be a bit of an eye-opener for you. It`s based on actual events, and things like this really do go on. But that`s also where the film struggles. It`s not an all out action film, it`s not a completely factual documentary, it`s a sort of halfway house. It`s worth watching, but it`s not always enjoyable. The script is good, and there are some good lines in it, but some of the characters are a struggle as you move through the film. Once again, it`s a film when you don`t really care about the characters.

It is worth watching, but not from an entertainment point of view. If you don`t know much about the arms trade, this is a reasonable starting point. But as an entertaining film that you might want to watch again and again, it really lacks appeal.

The DVD package is a good one, with good picture, excellent sound and a nice little package of extras. It will make a great rental, but you might not be rushing out to buy it for keeps.