YMMV / Lord of War

• Complete Monster: Andre Baptiste Sr. and Jr. are a father-son pair of wannabe dictators of Liberia, and represent the absolute worst kind of person Yuri Orlov deals weapons to. Andre Sr. is a cold-blooded sociopath who executed one of his own soldiers to test a weapon, while Andre Jr. is a hollering lunatic who drives around town firing on random civilians with his machine guns. The duo leading a bloody Civil War that costs countless lives while indoctrinating Child Soldiers into their regime, Andre Sr. shows his harshest colors when he sends a batch of weapons to allies of his to massacre innocent refugee camps of men, women and children; Andre Jr. hopes to personally lead the charge, and tries to gun down an entire family for giggles when the opportunity arises.
• Critical Dissonance: Critics were more mixed about the film, whereas audiences tend to remember it more fondly than the critics do. Care in point, it had a 62% rating on both Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic from critics, whereas the audience averages are 84% on the former and 8.6/10 on the latter.
• Magnificent Bastard: Yuri Orlov is a quick-thinking, charismatic Arms Dealer who uses his "business" to change the course of entire nations while skillfully evading law enforcement. Regularly dealing with trigger-happy lunatics and ruthless warlords who Yuri faces down with guile and respect, Yuri earns his spot as the most influential, powerful black market operator in the underworld. Disguising his ships as merchant vessels, handing off hot product for free to be dismantled by curious natives, and always staying one step ahead of dogged Interpol agent Valentine, Yuri faces even the death of his brother and family's betrayal with stoic coolness. Reaffirming that his connections will ensure he is never brought to justice and his dealings will forever flourish, Yuri ends the film by restating the best lesson he has learned to keep himself successful: "never go to war, especially with yourself."
• Narm: This promotional still. Nicolas Cage at his finest.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: Nowadays, it's impossible to bring up this movie without also bringing up the fact that Viktor Bout, the real-life figure whom Yuri Orlov is based on, was released from prison after a WNBA player was arrested on dubious charges in Russia and got exchanged for him. That and the fact that Viktor Bout then went on to become a right-wing politician in Russia.
• Serial Numbers Filed Off: Not the film itself, but the poster where Yuri's head is made of bullets is taken from a Sunday Times special report on Kofi Annan, where a critical artist had done the same thing to Kofi. Private Eye noted the similarity.
• Signature Scene:
  • The opening credits, charting the life of a bullet from the bullet's perspective, from the factory to the transport to the gun, ending up fired into a (child) soldier's head, remains the most memorable and famous part of the film.
  • Yuri's Breaking Speech to Jack is a close runner-up, especially after the inspiration for Orlov was released from prison as part of a Prisoner Exchange in 2022.

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