Pre-production

The idea for Lord of War originated prior to 2004 when an agent of the Creative Artists Agency gave Philippe Rousselet the script. It was summarized as a "Goodfellas in the world of arms dealing". Rousselet was impressed by the script but could not find an American studio that would take it on, as it was right before the beginning of the Iraq War.^[3]

An additional setback was that scenes in the script were written to occur in up to 13 different countries, requiring filming in varying locations. At one point the film was going to make use of the United Kingdom tax fund Movision, but as the expected expenses increased, Section 48 laws disqualified the film from making use of it. South Africa provided financial incentives for filming, such as paying back 15% of all expenditures incurred within its borders.^[3]

Rousselet reported to Variety that the financing necessary for the film was a mixture of debt taken on with Citibank West, the VIP3 German tax fund, and foreign sales. The remainder was paid by Rousselet.^[3]

Production

Shooting began on July 19, 2004.^[4] Production was primarily based in South Africa, the Czech Republic and New York City. Scenes in Ukraine were filmed in the Czech Republic, and scenes in Africa, the Caribbean, and Beirut were all taken in South Africa. Effort was taken to have extras that looked appropriate for every country depicted, both in attire and ethnicity. Due to the film's low budget, many scenes were constructed with only basic elements. One scene consisted entirely of 10,000 clay bricks and an extra in North African garb.^[5]

Amir Mokri made it a point to have the camera move as Yuri moved, in reference to Yuri's constant travelling as an arms dealer.^[5]

While filming in the Czech Republic, Niccol discovered it was cheaper to purchase real firearms rather than props, and so he purchased 3,000 Kalashnikovs. Most were sold back at a loss, though some were sawed in half to remove them from circulation. Niccol commented that he found it disturbing how easy it was to purchase them. Niccol met a variety of arms dealers during the production process, which he came to like. He attributed their likeability despite their profession to the fact that they were very good salesmen. A particular scene in the film featured a line of fifty T-72 tanks. These were provided by a source in the same country, and they told Niccol that he could use them until December, as they were needed back by then to sell to Libya. NATO had to be told about the tanks, as satellite imagery suggested a weapons build up in the country. Another sequence of scenes showed Yuri co-piloting an Antonov An-12 transport plane. The plane was provided by an arms dealer, with the plane was actively being used for transporting firearms during the time of production.^[5][6][7]

Yuri Orlov inspiration

Multiple publications have reported that Yuri is based on five criminal arms dealer, with some focusing on the Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.^[8][9][10] While this connection has not been confirmed, it has been pointed out that Yuri shares characteristics with Bout, and several events in Lord of War mirror actions attributed to him. For example, Yuri is natively Ukrainian, and Bout has been identified as being the same by the South African intelligence agency.^[11] Both men held the nickname "Merchant of Death", sold weapons to both sides of the same conflict, and traveled with multiple passports, among other similarities.^[12][13][14] The National Security Archive reported in 2015 that Yuri was primarily based on Sarkis Soghanalian, an Armenian-Lebanese arms dealer.^[15]

Box office

Lord of War released theatrically on September 16, 2005.^[1] Lions Gate Films provided distribution in the United States^[16] while Arclight Films distributed in other territories.^[4] The film grossed $9.4 million in the United States and Canada on its opening weekend, ranking number three in that box office category behind Just Like Heaven and The Exorcism of Emily Rose. It grossed a total of $24.1 million in the same region, and $48.5 million internationally, for a total of $72.6 million.^[1]

Critical reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 62% of 150 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.30/10. The website's consensus reads: "While Lord of War is an intelligent examination of the gun trade, it is too scattershot in its plotting to connect"^[17] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 62 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.^[18] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B-" on an A+ to F scale.^[19]

The opening scene of the film, showcasing the point of view of a bullet being made and eventually fired out of a rifle, was praised by critics.^[10][20] David Denby of The New Yorker characterized the sequence as "malicious wit" from Niccol, further commenting that by forcing the audience to watch it, Niccol suggested that they were complicit in the sale of firearms.^[21] In a review by Harry Haun, writing for the Film Journal Institute, he wrote that he wished the film was as direct and "head on" as it was.^[8] Rahul Hamid of Cinéaste stated that the "sensational opening effectively makes the same point that the film will explore... that violence around the world begins and ends directly at our doorstep."^[22]

Praise was also given to Cage's performance as Yuri Orlov. Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post stated that Cage was cast well for Yuri, writing that "he has the right scale and size to portray a man who isn't meant to resemble anyone real".^[23] Stephen McIntire, writing for Business Record [Des Moines], wrote that Cage has a "trademark wisecracking screen persona", which he states the screenplay gave him a balanced combination of "witty dialogue" and "throwaway one-liners".^[24] Brandon Zachary of Comic Book Resources stated that Cage's performance of Yuri was one of his most underrated characters, while Geoffry Macnab of Sight & Sound stated that "Cage's Yuri is so sleek and charismatic that most audiences will root for him".^[25][26]

Some publications criticized the focus of the film, questioning if the narrative and messaging were properly balanced. In a review by the New York Amsterdam News, written by Natasha Grant, she characterized the narration by Cage as preachy without the audience being given a clear reason as to why they should care, stating the film may have been better as a documentary.^[10] McIntire was critical of the film for "[playing] fast and loose with both external and internal facts." He goes on to state that throughout the film the primary focus is on the illegal selling of firearms, but the film concludes criticizing the legal sale of firearms by governments, which McIntire called a "blatant bait-and-switch".^[24] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly called the film a "feature-length trailer crossed with a lecture", stating that Yuri and his brother were not anything more than "generic crooked businessman boating off... to the world's trouble spots", ending his review by claiming that Niccol staged ideas for scenes rather than actual scenes, which he writes resulted in "a dead pile of information in search of a movie."^[27] Mick LaSalle, writing for the San Franscisco Chronicle, expressed frustration that scenes missed certain "dramatic opportunities". He stated that when a scene early in the film showed Yuri being inspired to sell guns, it served only to "get our hero into the gun business as quickly as possible", rather than "for the purpose of introducing us to a wild personality". LaSalle then criticized the film for failing to answer questions regarding the logistics of gun-running that it introduces, such as "how does he move that weaponry... where does he store it, before he finds a buyer... and how does he pay for it - Visa?" As a result, he stated that Lord of War was neither a documentary or a feature film.^[28]

Critics also took issue with the handling of Yuri's character. LaSalle wrote that Yuri is "a shell... meant to stand as an exemplar of all arms dealers", and that while the script had turning points for Yuri's character, each time having him "hitting rock bottom", it happens twice, resulting in LaSalle claiming that neither of them had meaning.^[28] Haun referred to the character of Yuri as a "soft-focused... central character", and that due to the fact he was inspired by five different real-world individuals, the presence of only "anecdotal detail" resulted in the film having too little humanity that could make Yuri "understandable" to the audience.^[8] Macnab stated that, despite Yuri being "sleek and charismatic", that it was ironic that he never changed throughout the film. He writes that in one particular scene, it appears Yuri is full of such intense self-loathing that he goes on a "booze and drug-fueled binge", but it does not have any narrative effect because he "always recaptures his composure". Macnab compared the writing of Yuri's conscience to Yuri's drug habit, being something that he is always able to get over, resulting in the critical nature of the arms trade coming across as ambivalent.^[26]

Accolades

The film received a special mention for excellence in filmmaking from the National Board of Review.^[29] Shortly after the film released Amnesty International, a non-governmental organization focusing on human rights, endorsed the film for illustrating the danger of international arms trade when left unchecked.^[30]