Lord of War (2005)

Lord of War wants you to hate the arms trade and also kinda enjoy the arms dealer, and it never settles which. Nicolas Cage narrates nearly every scene, and the voice-over keeps nudging you toward the lesson like a tour guide who doesn’t trust the group. Bridget Moynahan gets almost nothing to play beyond the wife who doesn’t ask questions. Still, Cage is terrific, calm, funny and quietly chilling, a salesman with a clear conscience because he’s decided not to have one. The opening credits, which follow a single bullet from the factory line out into the world, land like a gut punch. A cargo plane forced down on a dirt road and picked clean by a village overnight is the film’s sharpest dark comedy. Ethan Hawke’s Interpol agent runs on pure stubbornness. The scenes set in West African wars are handled soberly, and they should haunt you. A 6.9 because the satire bites even when the sermon drags. $3,519 says that opening bullet is still on your mind long after the credits, and that’s the point.

What works: Nicolas Cage is darkly funny and unsettling as Yuri, and the opening bullet sequence is one of the great title sequences of its decade.

What doesn’t: The constant narration spells out every point, and the women in Yuri’s life are written as little more than scenery.

Who it’s for: Viewers who like dark satire with a conscience and can sit with some heavy scenes about real-world wars.