Lord Of War is a black comedy loosely based on true stories of international arms trading. The material is really out there, and you can be sure it's one of those movies that was almost impossible to finance.

The story is a strange mix of action/adventure, character development and comedy. Here is the sort of wonderful writing that will have you laughing out loud at gunplay and rooting for an utterly amoral broker of death. Writer/director Andrew Niccol also wrote Gattaca and The Truman Show, which gives you a hint of the creative territory.

Nicolas Cage stars in Lord Of War as Yuri Orlov, a Ukraine-born New Yorker. His family has a restaurant in Brighton Beach, where young Yuri frequently observes Russian mobsters shooting each other dead. Guns, he realizes, are a growth industry.

Yuri embarks on his new career. He gets his younger brother (Jared Leto) to join the business and they quickly build an international clientele. Eventually, his brother picks up a cocaine habit and drops out.

Yuri pursues the woman he loves, gets married, has a child and continues to lead a double life. Maybe a triple life. He proudly announces at one point that his weapons are involved in eight of the top 10 war zones in the world.

He gets truly wealthy in the 1990s when the Soviet Union falls apart and he's in a position to grab stockpiled weapons in the Ukraine, helped by a relative there.

And then there are deals to be made in Africa, and an arms rival (Sir Ian Holm) with whom to compete, and that pesky Interpol agent (Ethan Hawke) to avoid. Such a busy life.

It all falls apart eventually in Lord Of War, only not in the fashion you might expect. The film is fast and furious and generally brilliant to look at -- explosive, visually fresh and inventive, very funny.

("A truce? But the guns are already on their way! I'll reroute the guns to the Balkans -- when they say they're going to have a war, they keep their word.")

Yuri's moral journey is heartbreaking, but it's also exhilarating, involving some difficult truths as it does. There's a lot to like about Lord Of War, including a terrific soundtrack.

It's not for the easily offended, mind you.

BOTTOM LINE

Darkly funny yarn about the wheeling and dealing of a global arms broker. The fact that much of the film is based on actual incidents is fairly terrifying; meanwhile, the film version of a completely amoral sales situation is funny, clever and brisk. Nic Cage is very good here.

(This film is rated 14A)
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