Lord Of War (15)

"At the end of this film, you want nothing to do with its world," claims producer Philippe Rousselet of Andrew Niccol's Lord Of War. Yet, as Nic Cage's Yuri Orlov luxuriates in his gun-running riches, you find yourself only partially agreeing with him. Because, from the moment the excellent opening shot has traced a bullet from the factory to a boy's head, Cage's narrator takes over as a magnetic (and incredibly rich) antihero.

LOW shows the good side of the bad guys, and in turning Orlov into the charismatic lead he is, Niccol gifts him an uncomfortable humanity, daring us to like him. In blurring the legality and illegality of gun-running too, the film doesn't offer easy answers - refreshingly forcing viewers to, (gasp!) form their own opinions. However, the film's support for the arms trade by purchasing 3,000 Kaleshnikovs galls. According to the Making Of, all the weapons used are real - including the 50-odd Soviet tanks on loan before being shipped off to Libya. Reassuring, no?

In the Making A Killing doc, Amnesty bods lead a sombre chat about the reality of the arms trade - and it's depressing stuff. As much as LOW challenges itself with the same issues - "You know who's going to inherit the world? Arms dealers. Because everyone else is too busy killing each other" - for Orlov, with business booming and champagne flowing, it's just moral padding to the more orgiastic whims of his profession.

DVD Extras:

Commentary from director
Andrew Niccol
10 deleted scenes
Interviews with cast and crew
Making A Killing doc
Making Of

Print