Wow. Once again Hollywood’s marketing campaign is completely misleading. The promotions for this movie played up some of the snappy lines so it looked more like a comedy-drama. Cage has done a few such movies lately, so I guess the studio was playing to that perception.
Well that perception is eliminated at the end of the credits. With a bullet, as they say. Literally. This is not a comedy. But it’s not dead-serious like The Constant Gardener either. That is to say the subject matter is serious, but the characters have a warmth and depth that makes it watchable. And the wit they display is the kind of wit you’d expect from a salesman.
Cage plays Yuri Orlov, a Ukranian immigrant who discovers his true calling: gun running. But big time gun running. To all the worst places in the world. Through this pursuit he is able to get the woman and lifestyle of his dreams. He’s pursued by the U.S. Government in the form of agent Jack Valentine.
The hoops cage jumps through to make deliveries and out-smart the Feds are impressive and show the kind of ingenuity you’d expect from someone in that business. The actual hardware - guns, tanks, helicopters, etc. are all very authentic looking. Some may be CGI’d - like the rows of T-72 tanks at the ex-Soviet base in Odessa. But maybe not.
The depiction of the places where he sells the guns - and the people to whom he sells - are startling. It’s an interesting contrast between Lord of War and The Constant Gardener in that they both deal with the same part of the world. CG was a very sympathetic portrayal of the region - with the West (i.e. “white people”) being the exploiters. LoW showed brutality on a level that’s very harsh indeed. Burned bodies, massacres, firing squads, mass murders. And done by Africans against Africans. Which isn’t to say it was a condemnation of any one race or the other - just that evil exists everywhere.
There were some really great images - like Cage doing inventory of Russian equipement while sitting on a toppled statue of Lenin. The beginning of the opening credits reminded me of the album cover from Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here album - the composition and man in the business suit just looked familiar.
This movie is supposed to be “based on actual events” - which is probably possible. In which case it is very interesting that the man in the shadows from the U.S. Army is named “Colonel Oliver Southern”. Maybe it was a gag - who knows.
In any event, this is a great movie. The dialog is snappy and at times funny - especially given what is going on, it’s the only way to stay sane, I imagine. Cage does a great job portraying someone living on the edge and dipping in and out of his humanity. This is not a comedy-drama, though - so be warned. It’s pretty stark at times and verry graphic and brutal.
It’s a much better movie than the studio let people to believe - its a shame that box office sales are more important than getting people who’d actually get this movie to go in to see it.
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