I'd seen Lord of War a long time ago, and had mostly forgotten it, but knew that it was good and well liked. So I decided to rewatch it last night. (Some spoilers ahead)
I quickly discovered how explicitly 2000s the movie is, from cheesy dialogue, ex:
Yuri Orlov: "beware of the dog"? You don't have a dog. Are you trying to scare people?
Vitaly Orlov: No, it's to scare me - remind me to beware the dog in me. The dog who wants to fuck everything that moves, wants to fight and kill weaker dogs.
to questionable CGI (mainly during the opening which admittedly is captivating), to really watered down character building and drama. The set pieces(?) are so poorly built that it completely took me out of the movie. An example:
Our main character suddenly goes from selling an uzi to a gangster, to striking a deal in Lebanon, to smuggling weapons on a massive freighter. He learns that his ship somehow landed on INTERPOL agent Ethan Hawke's radar, leading him and his brother to "cleverly" change the name of the ship and flag (they flip the French flag on its side so it looks like the Dutch flag). Ethan Hawke then boards the ship, speaks no words to Cage, and leaves after his inspection is cut short because somehow, between selling an uzi to smuggling on a ship, Cage managed to install counterintelligence allies in INTERPOL??
The movie rushes through its plotlines. The camera work is inventive but only in a show-offy way. The dialogue is cheesy without being too clever and when it goes beyond corny there's no hint self-awareness or irony. And the music is almost purely catchy tunes that you often see in "cool" movies.
The romantic plot of the movie is as you'd guess, also thin. Cage goes from setting up a fake meet with Bridget Moynahan, to leading her to thinking it was fate, to them getting married. On their wedding day she reveals she knows he might be hiding what he actually does for a living and that she won't have him lie to her, setting herself up as that annoying wife character we see in many a macho film.
Meanwhile Jared Leto is on his way to his second stint in rehab, I guess to raise the stakes?? For context, after selling his first uzi, Cage tells Leto he needs him as his partner, despite Leto not doing anything and somewhat being setup as a foil that doesn't like selling weapons. But Cage very quickly ends up going solo because of Leto's addiction, so why did he need him in the first place?
In conclusion, I realize this is mostly a rant about a flimsier-than-I-recall movie. I'll admit it was still an enjoyable watch and I didn't even finish the movie. This literally happened in the first 40 minutes of the movie. I understand a lot of my woes might be resolved by the end, but I still couldn't shake off this revelation I had, of an era of moviemaking where things felt a little less introspective, and a little more shallow. And yes I recognize the irony in saying this in a time where superhero movies dominate the box office. Regardless, I would like to hear what people here might think about this movie, and about early to mid 2000s movies in general
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/yy32n9/lord_of_war_reminded_me_of_a_dark_age_of_film/
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