Nicolas Cage’s ‘Lord of War’ shoots itself in the foot

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In theaters

LORD OF WAR, written and directed by Andrew Niccol, 122 minutes, rated R.

Amid all the spent bullets, the graphic depictions of genocide, the finger-pointing at big government and the criticisms of our president, there still is room for irony in the new Nicolas Cage movie, “Lord of War.” Unintentional, yes, but it’s there, and it deepens the film unexpectedly.

The movie, which director Andrew Niccol based on his own script, is about international gunrunning, with one Yuri Orlov (Cage) – a Ukrainian-born, Brooklyn-bred kingpin raised Jewish by parents who wanted to capitalize on the fruits of the locals – helping to arm the Third World.

Over the course of two decades, we follow Yuri’s sorry life, watching him gradually face the manipulative, unlikable core of who he is in the wake of the mass death he unleashes globally. Not that his connection to those deaths troubles him much. Yuri is in this for Yuri.

The movie begins with a spectacular scene of computer animation. In it, Niccol follows a single bullet’s harried path from a manufacturing plant in Russia to the jungles of Africa to the throes of a bloody street war and finally to the center of one young boy’s forehead.

Cut to Yuri, who supplied those guns and who now is standing amid a wasteland of death and smoking wreckage. “There is one firearm for every 12 people on the planet,” he says to the screen. “The challenge is to figure out how to arm the other 11.” Yuri isn’t a good man – he’s the kind of guy who likes to brag that he sold Israeli-made Uzis to Muslims – so what ensues is a story that follows his efforts to get people the guns they want.

Helping him is his cocaine-addicted brother, Vitaly (Jared Leto), who is useless. Hindering him is an Interpol agent played by Ethan Hawke, who is naive. Yuri’s beautiful wife, Ava Fontaine (Bridget Moynahan), is pure window dressing. She’s a former model who is neither here nor there, just like their young son, who obviously was brought in to punctuate just how far Yuri has fallen from what matters.

Or at least what should matter. The problem with “Lord” is that Yuri is so amoral, nothing really matters to him but money, power, the rush of selling guns. Since it’s impossible to like him, that feeling extends to the movie he inhabits. Since his behavior becomes so repetitive and predictable, the film follows suit – long stretches are redundant.

“Lord of War” has flashes of good writing and acting, but for those who pay attention to the news, its story won’t seem particularly new. Add it up, and what you have is a movie that ironically takes its own bullet in the gut.

The second irony is that an action star of Cage’s caliber would appear in what’s essentially a public denouncement of the manufacturing of weaponry. It’s a twist that will raise its share of eyebrows, particularly since Cage owes his career to starring roles in a wealth of films that relied on a certain level of ballistic bombast to fuel their box-office receipts. What would have become of Cage’s career had Hollywood not armed the actor with guns and explosives? Would he be the A-list star he is today, or just another good character actor?

Likely the latter.

Grade: C

On video and DVD

ROBOTS, directed by Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha, written by Lowell Ganz, David Lindsay-Abaire and Babaloo Mandel, 90 minutes, rated PG.

In an animated movie, anything is possible. Do it right and a film about two damp dishrags headed straight for the wringer could be the main squeeze of the year – so long as there is a spark between them, a personality within them, a compelling story behind them.

The tricky thing about today’s computer-animated movies is that the temptation is always there to push the terabyte into overload. There are obvious dangers to that. If a director is too seduced by the visuals to focus on what really matters – the characters, their relationships, the stories that bind them – the film’s soul can be lost.

That’s just the case in “Robots,” a technically fine-looking yet dull-as-drill-bits movie whose busy animation creates 90 minutes of chaos onscreen.

The film begins with the hopeful young robot Rodney Copperbottom (voice of Ewan McGregor) leaving his quaint hometown of Rivet to become an inventor in Robot City, a sprawling metropolis that makes Manhattan look like prairie land. The hand-me-down son of a robot dishwasher, Rodney has something to prove, all right, but the good news is that he has the goods to back up his dreams.

He’s a talented visionary who wants to become as great an inventor as his idol, Big Weld (Mel Brooks). But with the evil Ratchet (Greg Kinnear) undermining all at every turn, Rodney finds himself in a pinch. Ratchet plans to rid the world of old robots made of spare parts, which includes Rodney, his family, all of Rodney’s friends, and millions of others ‘bots. What to do? Let’s just say that when it comes to these buckets of bolts, someone is going to get screwed.

For kids, a worthwhile message is tucked within “Robots” – you can shine no matter what you’re made of. But this doesn’t turn out to be true for the film, which is made of a similar computer code that created the superior “The Incredibles,” “Monster, Inc.,” “Toy Story 2” and “Toy Story,” but which is nowhere near their levels of excellence.

There isn’t a moment in the movie when the dense visuals aren’t overwhelming the already thin story. The brassy animation is intricate, but it’s also pure overkill – computer-generated one-upmanship that gets in your face and slaps it. Watching “Robots” is like watching someone else play a video game – for awhile, you’re enchanted by the graphics, but once the weak game play reveals itself, all interest is lost.

Grade: C-

Visit WeekinRewind.com, the new archive of Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s reviews, which appear Mondays in Discovering, Fridays in Happening, and weekends in Television. He may be reached at Christopher@weekinrewind.com.

The Video-DVD Corner

Renting a video or a DVD? BDN film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores. Those in bold print are new to video stores this week.

The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl – D-

Alexander – C

A Very Long Engagement – A

The Aviator – A

Bad Education – A

Beauty Shop – C-

Bride & Prejudice – B

The Brown Bunny – C

Constantine – C-

Crash – D

Cursed – C-

Cypher – C+

Darkness – D+

Desperate Housewives: First Complete Season – B+

Diary of a Mad Black Woman – C-

A Dirty Shame – B

Ella Enchanted – B

Empire Falls – C-

Fever Pitch – A-

Flight Of The Phoenix – C-

Guess Who – C+

Hammer Horror Series – A

Hide and Seek – C

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – B-

Hostage – C-

House of Flying Daggers – A

Inside Deep Throat – B+

Ice Princess – B-

Kung Fu Hustle – A

Ladder 49 – B

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou – D+

The Longest Yard – C

A Lot Like Love – D

Man of the House – C-

Million Dollar Baby – A

Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous – C+

Monster-in-Law – B-

Muppet Show: Season One – A

The Notebook – B+

Ocean’s Twelve – C-

Racing Stripes – C

Ray – A

The Ring Two – C-

Robots – C-

Sahara – C-

Scary Movie 3.5 – B

The Sea Inside – A-

Sin City – A-