Lord of War (2005)

RATING:	60%
FORMAT:	DVD

(www.ernieputto.de)

A movie as ethically-confused as its leading participants. We never see those indirectly killed - at close quarters - by the gun-running central character and so feel nothing for their loss. The idea that selling arms to dictators kills is as silly as claiming telephone companies are responsible for obscene telephone calls.

Despite the high-quality acting, performers get scant opportunity to show what they can really do with an underwritten script and a weakly-researched plot. Instead, we get a never-ending sequence of gallows’ humour leavened with stylish technical tricks that lower the entire project into simplistic formalism.

There is no logical argument against the arms’ trade and so no rational argument against the more widespread use of firearms: “If They have them then We must have them, too”.

Copyright © 2013 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.