Lord of WarStarring: Nicolas Cage, Bridget Moynahan, Jared Leto, Ethan HawkeDirected by: Andrew NiccolStars: 3 out of 5

At best, Nicolas Cage is a terrible actor.

It absolutely cannot be denied, no matter what examples you may give. Yes, everyone remembers when he tried to change the ‘yeas’ to ‘oohs’ in The Beatles’ ‘She Loves You’ in ‘Peggy Sue Got Married,’ his struggle to protect Shirley MacLaine in ‘Guarding Tess,’ the copious amounts of explosions and bullets that he dodged in ‘The Rock,’ ‘Con Air’ and ‘Face/Off’ (made one after another) and how he played his own twin brother in ‘Adaptation.’ Still, just watching him try to act can be downright miserable. His range of emotions is one of a constant dazed state of confusion, and the same melancholy voice he uses for every character can make a movie seem twice as long.

But there is something ultimately enjoyable about watching his movies. Overall, they’re entertaining and pleasant, and they usually leave you satisfied and wanting more Nick Cage. These paradoxical sentiments of the love/hate relationship with his work rise again in his latest film, ‘Lord of War.’

So what is it that makes his movies so entertaining? It may be the plotlines. Cage always puts himself into well-crafted and interesting stories. In ‘LoW,’ Cage plays Yuri Orlov, a gunrunner who supplies weapons to the wars of the worlds. From the ’80s to the present, the film takes the audience through three decades of terrorism and war. A true story that combines action and humor keeps the movie flowing and interesting.

It also may be the excellent actors that unintentionally, but happily, take the focus away from Cage. Sharing the screen, ‘LoW’ provides excellent performances from Ethan Hawke (‘Training Day’), Bridget Moynahan (‘I, Robot’), Jared Leto (‘Requiem for a Dream’) and Ian Holm (‘Garden State’). Even Cage’s voice takes on a life of its own as he out-of-body narrates more than half of his lines, all of them being the ones you’ll remember.

And it may be the director, who seems to always know how to use Cage favorably. Director Andrew Niccol (‘Gattica’) uses a mixture of comedy and suspense to show Orlov differently than expected. Even though Orlov supplies weapons to the worst people in the world, it’s actually hard to hate him due to the fact that, for him, it’s just another job.

The only real problem with Niccol and the movie is the blatant political theme forced down the collective throat of the audience. There are jibes at the presidency and America’s outlook on foreign wars that seem forced and unneeded. And if that wasn’t enough, the movie ends with a warning explaining that the five biggest arms dealers in the world are also the five countries that have permanent places on the UN Security Council, a topic that wasn’t touched upon throughout the movie.

Still, the film was an overall success. Making a sizeable dent to destroy the slump that Cage has recently been in, up to and including ‘Captain Corelli’s Mandolin,’ ‘Windtalkers,’ ‘Sonny’ and ‘Matchstick Men,’ ‘Lord of War’ is an interesting, if not timely, film about terrorism and the people behind the chaos.

Published on September 14, 2005 at 12:00 pm