RISS&ENTERTAINME Lord of War: A message for the masses Brady Ehler, OP Contributor Ap ANBD ECS UREAR NICOLAS CAG LORDo' WAR WHERE THERES AW'L, THERES A WEAPON S 2 2 a 2 $ The last paragraph has plot-revealing spoiler in it. So, if you're just dying to see Lord of War, don’t read the last paragraph. Nicolas Cage stars in Andrew Niccol’s Lord of War, the story of a poor Russian immigrant turned international arms dealer, Yuri Orlov. The movie gets started with a bang, as it were. We follow the journey of a 5.45 mm AK-47 rifle round from its conception in a weapons factory in the US across the ocean to Russia, and ultimately to Africa where it is soon fired through the head of a young African boy. The movie then continues to beat its audi- ence over the head with the message for two hours. The “story’—or, rather, series of moral messages thinly disguised as plot points—focuses around Yuri’s tise to success in the arms-dealing business, while cor- rupting his younger brother, Vitali, who is played by the un-talented Jared Leto. Vitlali, by the way, should have had a target painted on his forehead from the first act; also, a cardboard cutout might have played him for all of his depth. Yuri hasn’t much dimension himself, but he isn’t meant to. Cage’s character is the picture of moral apa- thy: he buys and sells guns, artillery, military vehicles, and other military arms with a clean conscious. His phi- losophy is this: he is much happier if the people who buy the weapons don’t end up firing them, just as long as they buy them. Through the course of the movie, we get to see our anti-hero, Orlov, rise to riches, marry his dream girl, produce a son, and become the best private arms dealer ever. Then, we get to see him—yep you aeditor@gmail.com guessed it—lose it all, including the love of his parents (aw) and the brother with the target painted onto his forehead. What’s the theme? No, it’s not that if you’re an arms dealer, you'll go to hell...although they did beat me over the head with that one. No. It’s summed up in a single scene, in which Yuri runs into his biggest client, Andre Baptiste (Eamonn Walker), who just so happens to have Orlov’s biggest competitor tied up. Baptiste then asks Orlov to shoot his rival. Orlov hesitates, but does not resist when Baptiste says, “We'll do this together,” then takes Orlov’s hand, wraps it around the gun, brings it up to aim, then squeezes his hand to put a round through Orlov’s rival’s head. Though this film carried a typical veneer of Hollywood shlockiness, brought on by tacky CG, a good looking supporting actor that couldn’t act, and more clichés than you can fire a Kalashnikov at, it was extremely refreshing to see a big budget American movie with such a strong anti-guns/anti-war message. True, the story was centred around a private dealer, but in the end he got off the hook thanks to a shadowy top-level US military official. The film also leaves us with a tasty statistic you can share with your friends: The Earth’s top-five arms exporters are (in descending order)... India, UK France, China, and the number-one arms exporter is...(you guessed it again) the good ol’ US of A. serenity Vince Yim, OP Browncoat SERENITY Six months after the events of the short-lived Firefly tel- evision show, the crew of Serenity is still on the run between smuggling jobs. Led by battle-hardened war veteran Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion), they are harbouring two fugitives: a gifted young girl named River Tam who was left damaged after undergoing gov- ernment experiments designed to turn her into a weapon; the other, her older brother Simon, sacrificed his promising career as a surgeon to get her away. Previously, the Alliance has been after River to regain their property, although things are different now—River knows something that she shouldn’t and the Alliance is going to great lengths to silence her. It’s up to the crew of Serenity to uncover the truth and make sure every- one else knows it too. But they first have to survive an attack from Reavers, a race of subhuman space canni- bals. Created, written, and directed by Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel), Serenity has all of the trade- marks that Whedon’s fans have come to expect: witty dialogue, smart writing, and engaging characters. Despite the critical acclaim and cult following achieved by the preceding television show, the show lasted less than a season. However, promising DVD sales prompt- ed Universal Pictures to pick up the property as a fea- ture film. While the fans of Firefly (referring to them- selves as “Browncoats”) certainly got the movie that they wanted, how does that bode for the rest of the movie-going public? Certainly, fans of Firefly will probably get a lot more enjoyment out of the film than newcomers, but the film does take time to lay a brief primer for first-timers. As nothing is worse than being dropped into the middle of the story without any sort of introduction, Serenity avoids this. The film doesn’t dwell on it too long and chugs along at a brisk pace, moving along to its thrilling ending. Simply put, Serenity is a lot of fun. While the com- mercials have already revealed a lot of funnier lines of dialogue (“You wanna run this ship?” “Yes.” “Well...you can’t!”), there are still plenty of surprises left. There are some absolutely hilarious moments and great action sequences. For a modestly budgeted $40 million, they have some really breathtaking visuals. But most important is the characterization. Not only is there the great dialogue and exchanges, Whedon is also absolutely merciless when it comes to handling charac- ters (as regular viewers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer can attest). After developing an attachment for the charac- ters, it becomes difficult to watch some of the charac- ters get put through the wringer. Admittedly, the film is not without its flaws. Given its large cast of characters, it’s expected that characters will be underutilized at times. This is indeed the case, as one or two major characters could have easily been dropped, but were left in, as they were integral to the original Firefly television show. In addition, at times, it does feel like a longer version of the show. As a critical- ly acclaimed television show with a loyal (if small) fol- lowing, fans would have preferred another season as opposed to a feature film. Regardless, Serenity is definitely worthy of your entertainment dollar and quite possibly one of the bet- ter science fiction films to come out this year (and yes, that means it’s better than Star Wars Episode 3). Whether you're a faithful fan or not, you will find something to appreciate in the film.