Lord of War

According to producer Philippe Rousselet, the idea for Lord of War originated prior to 2004 when an agent of the Creative Artists Agency gave him the script. It was summarized as a "Goodfellas in the world of arms dealing". Rousselet was impressed by the script but could not find an American studio that would take it on, as it was right before the beginning of the Iraq War.

An additional setback was that scenes in the script were written to occur in up to 13 different countries, requiring filming in New York, South Africa, and the Czech Republic. At one point the film was going to make use of the United Kingdom tax fund Movision, but as more cast members and locations were added to the production plan, Section 48 laws disqualified the film from making use of it. Part of the reason South Africa was chosen was due to financial incentives, such as the country paying back 15% of all expenditures incurred within its borders.

Rousselet reported to Variety that the financing necessary for the film was a mixture of debt taken on with Citibank West, the VIP3 German tax fund, and foreign sales. The remainder was paid by Rousselet.[1]

Multiple publications have stated that Yuri is based on five criminal arms dealer,[7][8][9] with many focusing on the Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. While this connection has not been confirmed, it has been pointed out that Yuri shares characteristics with Bout, and several events in Lord of War mirror actions attributed to him. For example, Yuri is natively Ukrainian, and Viktor has been identified as being the same by the South African intelligence agency.[10] Both men held the nickname "Merchant of Death", sold weapons to both sides of the same conflict, and traveled with multiple passports, among other similarities.[11][12][13] The National Security Archive reported in 2015 that Yuri was primarily based on Sarkis Soghanalian, an Armenian-Lebanese arms dealer.[14]

Niccol reported to The New Zealand Herald that while filming in the Czech Republic it was cheaper to purchase real firearms rather than props, and so purchased 3,000 Kalashnikovs. He later destroyed some of them by cutting them in half, but due to the tight budget, most were sold back at a loss. Niccol commented that he found it disturbing how easy it was to purchase the firearms.

A particular scene in the film featured a line of tanks, which Niccol stated were provided by a Czech source. A time restriction on their use was given by the provider, as they needed them back by December to sell to Libya.[15] Niccol commented in an interview with NPR that he had to notify NATO about the tanks, as satellite photos indicated that there was a large weapons build up in the Czech Republic. He further stated that he met a variety of arms dealers during the production process, and that he came to like them, which he agreed was due to them being good salespeople. One of the arms dealers was the owner of the transport plane used throughout the film.[16]

The film grossed $9,390,144 on its domestic weekend,[2] ranking number three at the North American box office behind Just Like Heaven and The Exorcism of Emily Rose.[17]

It grossed a total of $24,149,632 on the domestic market (US and Canada) after 7 weeks,[18] and $48,467,436 internationally, for a worldwide total of $72,617,068.[19]

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a 62% rating based on 149 reviews. The site's consensus states: "While Lord of War is an intelligent examination of the gun trade, it is too scattershot in its plotting to connect."[20] On Metacritic, it has a score of 62% based on entries from 31 critics, indicating that it has "generally favorable reviews".[21] Individual reviews from publications were marginally negative.

Peter Travers of the Rolling Stone, and Variety magazine, both felt that the film was weak when not focused on the arms trade. Peter stated that Yuri's dialogue was more interesting than the "human drama" present in the film, while Variety felt that Yuri's family dynamic was "dull and unconvincing".[8][22]

Business Record criticized the film's interpretation of Interpol as inaccurate, and that its condemnation of governments selling weapons - when its focus was on freelance arms trade - was a "blatant bait-and-switch".[23] Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post commented that the script relied too much on "didactic [and] epigrammatic" language, that Yuri does not relate with other characters, ending with the summary "Lord of War... [is] transfixing to watch... But it's finally just as empty as the man it's about."[24] A writer of the Film Journal Institute stated that Niccol "[fell] short of the straight-shooter mark, stinging his audience all over the place."[7] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly summarized the film as a "dead pile of information in search of a movie."[25]

The film received praise from publications for its opening, where the viewer is shown the point of view of a bullet from when it is made, sold, and eventually fired. David Denby of The New Yorker characterized Niccol's inclusion of the sequence as "malicious wit", while Cineaste called it "blunt, virtuosic, and sensational", asserting that its point is to showcase that worldwide violence begins and ends with individual people.[5][26]

Some publications gave generally positive reviews, such as Comic Book Resources - in a belated commentary made after the sequel's announcement - characterizing it as a "very solid drama" which brings attention to the idea that profiting from war can be treated like any other business.[27] People Magazine stated that the film was informative, had sharp and stylish wit, ending with the summary "Lord of War is that rarest of pictures, one that's actually about something and mad as hell."[28]

The film received a special mention for excellence in filmmaking from the National Board of Review.[29] Shortly after the film released Amnesty International, a non-governmental organization focusing on human rights, endorsed the film for illustrating the danger of international arms trade when left unchecked.[30]