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Lord of War
Yuri Orlov is a globetrotting arms dealer and, through some of the deadliest war zones, he struggles to stay one step ahead of a relentless Interpol agent, his business rivals and even some of his customers who include many of the world's most notorious dictators. Finally, he must also face his own conscience.
2005 · Directed by Andrew Niccol · 122 min · Crime · Drama · Thriller · Screenplay in the scene database · 11 frames
Tagline
Where there's a will, there's a weapon.
Plot
In the early 1980s, Ukrainian-American restaurant employee Yuri Orlov, whose family assumed Jewish identities to emigrate from the Soviet Union, witnesses a gunfight amongst the Russian mafia in his neighborhood of Brighton Beach. The incident inspires him to begin trafficking arms for personal profit, with Yuri comparing the ever-present human need for armaments to the necessity of the restaurant industry. Through a contact at his father's synagogue, Yuri acquires an Uzi submachine gun and makes his first sale, eventually convincing his reluctant younger brother Vitaly to become his partner in crime.
The two brothers get their big break with the Lebanese Civil War following the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings. As he prospers financially, Yuri increasingly witnesses his activities directly enabling atrocities and war crimes, and is relentlessly pursued by Jack Valentine of Interpol; Valentine represents a unique and persistent threat to Yuri's business because he has a particularly strong moral compass and cannot be bribed or coerced into backing down from his pursuit. Meanwhile, an arms deal with a Colombian drug lord ends with the brothers being forcefully paid off with a large shipment of cocaine, to which Vitaly quickly develops a severe addiction. Yuri checks him into a rehabilitation center and continues building his empire alone. He uses his profits to seduce and marry supermodel Ava Fontaine, who he's idolized since adolescence. She later gives birth to their son Nikolai.
Upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Yuri flies to Ukraine and meets his uncle Dmitri, a Soviet general who is overseeing the distribution of the assets of the Soviet Armed Forces. As he illegally supplies Yuri and rebuffs his competition, Dmitri is killed in a car bombing orchestrated by rival arms dealer Simeon Weisz. Yuri then expands his empire to Africa and starts doing business with Liberian dictator André Baptiste. As a "gift" to honor their alliance, Baptiste captures Weisz and offers Yuri a chance to execute him; Yuri refuses, but Baptiste puts the gun into his hand and pulls the trigger. Yuri is disturbed by Baptiste's appetite for bloodshed, including his use of child soldiers, but remains undeterred from selling weapons and ammunition to him.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: Andrew Niccol
- Cinematography: Amir Mokri
- Edited by: Zach Staenberg
- Music: Antonio Pinto
- Production design: Jean-Vincent Puzos
- Produced by: Philippe Rousselet, Andreas Grosch, Teri-Lin Robertson, Norman Golightly
Cast
- Nicolas Cage as Yuri Orlov
- Bridget Moynahan as Ava Fontaine Orlov
- Jared Leto as Vitaly Orlov
- Ethan Hawke as Jack Valentine
- Eamonn Walker as Andre Baptiste Sr.
- Ian Holm as Simeon Weisz
- Sammi Rotibi as Andre Baptiste Jr.
- Tanit Phoenix as Candy
- Shake Tukhmanyan as Irina Orlov
- Jared Burke as Ukrainian Mobster
Production
- Country: France, United States of America, Germany
- Language: Arabic, German, English, French, Russian, Spanish, Ukrainian, Turkish
- Studios: Endgame Entertainment, Entertainment Manufacturing Company, Ascendant Pictures, Saturn Films
- Budget: $50,000,000
- Box office: $72,600,000
- Themes: hotel, new york city, civil war, dictator, cold war, drug addiction, cocaine, warlord, car bomb, arms dealer
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