How cheery!
When I saw the initial trailers for Lord of War, I was pretty convinced it was my kind of film. Black as black can be humor, a post-national Leggy Starlitz vibe, and some 80s music in the background. It'd be grim, but so was Grosse Point Blank, and it's on my favorites list.
I took a break from some code this evening, watched it on a whim, (thanks, Comcast On Demand!) and I can say a couple of things off the top of my head. First, Lord of War is a weak film story-wise. They weren't exactly going for super-spy thriller material, but most of the plot was telegraphed so far in advance that waiting for shoes to drop felt like a chore, not anticipation. And Nicholas Cage just plays... well... Nicholas Cage again. I suppose I can buy him as a Ukranian arms dealer from New York; if Clark Kent's glasses hide Superman, I guess Nicholas Cage doesn't have to bother faking an accent for this film.
Billed as a 'black comedy,' it was just black; nobody expects Keystone Kops from a movie about arms dealers, but what possibilities for brain-twisting irony and weirdness in a business like that seemed to be overlooked. Maybe I'm just war-inured after reading about military tech, international mercenery corporations, insurgency, and... well. Yeah. That.
That brings me to the second thought about this film. I can't help but think after watching that director Andrew Niccol had no real intention of making a black comedy. Lord of War, at its heart, is a dead-baby-photo thrust in the face of the viewer. There's some gore, but it's not really just about the violence that arms dealers facilitate. It's about the deadening of the human soul that goes with the territory of selling death.
Make no mistake about it: this movie is depressing in every sense of the word. Love is lost, lives are lost, souls are lost -- Nicholas Cage is invincible, unstoppable, but only in the most technical sense. By the time the film is over, he's won and he's no longer really human. He knows it, and even though he lies to everyone around him, no one is fooled -- not him, not them.
Perhaps it's not really, truly possible to enjoy a movie about people killing people without lying to yourself in one way or another. If I had, I'm not sure if I'd want to look in the mirror. I didn't enjoy Lord of War, and to be honest I think that's what the director intended.
I suppose I found a tad more
I suppose I found a tad more humour in it than you--I found myself smirking occasionally--but I do agree with your analysis. It was cynical to the core.
However the cynic in me couldn't help wishing for a little more. In my version, the UN planes in the background behind (the screen version of) Charles Taylor would have been Operation Blessing planes unloading diamond mining equipment, while a Nic Cage voice-over would explain the planes were bought and paid for by kind Christian folks thinking they were lifting refugees out of Rwanda. And, the voice over would go on, even though the State would recommend prosecution against the unnamed teleevangelist in charge when it came to light, the Attorney General somehow found it in his heart to drop the charges against the man who happened to be one of his largest campaign donors. Cut to a close up of a diamond, held between the fingers of a contemplative Nic Cage who pauses to reflect, then snaps the diamond into his fist and turns aloofly to address Taylor about the shipment.
Lord of War
Though I know better, I confess I was sucked in the "I'm guessing this isn't about the alcohol or tobacco." teaser clip in the promos.
Few movies have left me with the same knotted nausea this one did. At this, I, too, can see the director high-fiving everyone within reach.
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