Lord of WarMovie Reviews

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Avg. Critic Score: 62 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
17 not for kids
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 88
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    A bleak comedy, funny in a "Catch-22" sort of way, and at the same time an angry outcry against the gun traffic. Read full review

  • 80
    The Hollywood Reporter | Kirk Honeycutt

    Cage is brilliant. Read full review

  • 80
    Washington Post | Ann Hornaday

    Tells Yuri's story with the same bravado and stylishness as Scorsese at his finest, with bigger-than-life characters and situations splashing across the screen in breathtaking scale. Read full review

  • 80
    Variety | Robert Koehler

    Brimming with cinematic confidence, cynicism, chutzpah plus dramatic bungles, Andrew Niccol's ambitious Lord of War views today's international arms trade through its anti-hero. Read full review

  • 63
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Niccol is too good a screenwriter (The Truman Show, Gattaca) not to know that Hollywood cliches are hell on a film's political bite. They muzzle it. Read full review

  • 63
    USA Today | Mike Clark

    Intelligent but not particularly involving. Read full review

  • 50
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    The film is always at least mildly interesting, because international arms dealing is a fairly compelling issue, but it's never as informative as a good documentary nor as engrossing as a good narrative. It's a hybrid that's frustrating in two distinct ways. Read full review

  • 50
    The New York Times | Manohla Dargis

    Like everything else in this film, Mr. Cage's performance is watchable if never credible because his director never resolves the disconnect between this star's function (to entertain) and that of his character (to repel). Read full review

  • 50
    Los Angeles Times | Kenneth Turan

    Any time you're watching a film in which the statistics in the voice-over have more intrinsic drama than the protagonists' lives, you know you're in trouble. Read full review

  • 16
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    The result is a dead pile of information in search of a movie. Read full review

View more reviews for Lord of War on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says not for kids Ambitious but uneven; way too violent for kids.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this movie is about an international arms dealer and includes explicit images of explosions, gun battles, dead bodies. An early, striking sequence follows a bullet from manufacture through sales and shipping to its eventual endpoint in a boy's head -- the screen goes red. It also features frequent cursing, smoking, sexual promiscuity and unclothed female prostitutes, as well as drug use; one of the dealers becomes a serious cocaine and heroin addict, the other becomes addicted to the rush of selling contraband. The film reduces complex points about international markets and politics.
  • Families can talk about the brothers' relationship: how does Yuri take advantage of Vitali? How does Yuri's lying to his wife, Ava, become a metaphor for lying to himself? What is the function served by dogged Agent Ryan, whose moral position seems almost quaint alongside the high stakes rolling of the arms dealers? As the film argues that Yuri's deals are small potatoes next to corporate and government contractors, how does it take a stand against Yuri and/or how does it generate sympathy for him?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: In spite of an ultimate stand against violence, the arms dealers are not redeemed or sorry for what they do.
What to watch for
  • violence false5 Violence: Explosions and action, as well as brutal torture and murders.
  • sex false3 Sex: Prostitution; several undressed women and R-rated sex acts.
  • language false5 Language: Hard, pointed cursing; frequent f-words.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Theme is selling arms, with references to commercial culture specifically.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false5 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Drinking, smoking, drug use; addiction is a theme.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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