By Evan Ferstenfeld

Taking its cues from the first parcel perspective opening of Robert Zemeckis"s human progress meditation Cast Away, the starting gunshot of writer/director Andrew Niccol's gunrunner opus Lord of War shows the life of an individual bullet casing from its own viewpoint. Starting with the spotless machinery of a secure and efficient Western superpower's bullet factory, we are shown its "birth" by gunpowder and aerodynamic metal merging together for its conception, all the way to the bullet's final resting place deep within the brain cavity of a third world country's anonymous assailant. It is an inventive, jolting piece of cinema trickery which highlights the best and worst qualities that this War has to offer. Whereas Cast Away contrasted the UPS package's travel route within strict timelines to its title character's timeless island existence, Lord of War's crosshair display is a mostly flashy, highly technical affair which makes its audience go "Ooh!!" but whose videogame detachment makes the scene unable to shoot us through the heart with any poignant meaning.

Nicolas Cage, who by this career point has sold away his entire Oscar award piece by piece to whatever mainstream action fodder ponies up the most cash, plays Yuri Orlov, a young entrepreneur who for reasons even the movie doesn't bother to investigate, decides that millions can be made by selling more illegal firearms to a country than they have in actual population to use them.

With its cynical, wise-guy voiceover narration calmly guiding us through a movie that shows a young immigrant's journey from normal civilian to illegal arms-dealing lothario, Lord of War mimics Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas like a little brother who wants to be as respected as his older sibling when he's all grown up, yet compensates for the lack of experience by vaguely miming his brother's tough talk and mannerisms. While milking several instances of blood-choked laughter out of Yuri's oddly passive/aggressive profession and presenting a slew of solid foundations for firm ideas to grow out of, Niccol's script mostly delivers cringingly cheap thrills and trite laughs at his movie's expense, offers surprisingly simplistic, ho-hum scoops on what should be fascinating gunrunning insider's knowledge, delivers wisdom usually no more profound than "Peace is bad for business," and most tragically of all, does not invest enough personality or passion into Cage’s character to make him either despised or immortalized.

Painting a pretty picture to go with his otherworldly writing style has never been a problem for Niccol, from the sinfully underrated elegance of 1997's Gattaca to the script for the sci-fi-that-is-now-reality-TV oddball charm of The Truman Show. Lord of War is no exception in the looks department, as Niccol's penchant for wonderfully pointed symbolism has machine guns ringing up bullets like a cash register, as well as Yuri perched atop a fallen statue of Lenin as thousands of Russian tanks lined up and designed for US destruction are auctioned off across the globe by an American war profiteer. Unfortunately Niccol's writing styling, which is best at rendering distant lands that symbolize important elements and issues found in the real world, is at odds with a story begging to be told in a straight-forward factual manner with characters that must feel natural and authentic.

Lord of War has a lot of ideas going for it, as it valiantly tries to shoot from the hip about the ravages of munitions-pushing nations and their cycle of violent repression of third-world hot spots with government-sanctioned dictators. War's daytime soap performances and melodramatics ensures that it can never pull the trigger on its most prized comments, relegating itself to mere flesh wounds instead of a dead-on head shot.

Grade: C
Rating: R
Running Time: 122 Mins.