Lord of War

Writer and director Andrew Niccol, often full of intriguing ideas (as in Gattaca and The Truman Show), here falters | Andrew Coffin

Trailers often dumb down a movie so that it can be sold in 60 seconds. In the case of Lord of War (rated R for strong violence, drug use, language, and sexuality), the trailers promise something the film never delivers. What appears to be a biting look at gun culture and global violence has little more to offer than this: Arms dealers are sleazy and bad, and—get this—the United States is worse.

Nicholas Cage plays Yuri Orlav, the son of Russian immigrants in New York's Little Odessa. Yuri grew up surrounded by violence, and one day it hits him: People need food, people need shelter, people need guns (and ammo, of course). The seedy doors of capitalism swing open, and soon Yuri is at the top of his trade, an arms dealer supplying weaponry to dictators, guerrillas, and criminals around the globe.