What I thought was going to be a lame action movie turned out to be a very thoughtful, very frightening and depressing, look at the roles that gunrunners play in today's wars.
The movie gives you plenty to think about: we can all assume that there will be war in the Middle East, so is it OK to profit by selling the guns that these wars are fought with? What if you have the support of your country, or others?
On one hand, it's an insider's look at the ins and outs of actually carrying out a career as a gunrunner, and on the other it's a bleak look at the conflicts that continue to this day, and what is being done (or not being done) to stop them (or continue them). The story, told from the point of view of Nicholas Cage's Ukranian immigrant, is actually a very dark comedy, but it's not really laugh-out-loud funny, so much as laugh-in-desperation funny. Here's a sample bit of dialogue:
"There are over 550 million firearms in worldwide circulation. That's one firearm for every twelve people on the planet. The only question is: How do we arm the other 11?"
The only big drawback I found in the movie is that the dialogue is sometimes very heavy-handed (for every good bit of dialogue, there's something like "Well, I'd tell you to go to Hell, but I'd say you're already there"). And, obviously, it deals in a realistic way with many of the battles that took place in recent years in Africa and the Middle East, and a lot of this involves kids either serving as soldiers or being the target of soldiers. Some of it is upsetting, but it is all done realistically and with a purpose.
The movie gives you plenty to think about: we can all assume that there will be war in the Middle East, so is it OK to profit by selling the guns that these wars are fought with? What if you have the support of your country, or others?
On one hand, it's an insider's look at the ins and outs of actually carrying out a career as a gunrunner, and on the other it's a bleak look at the conflicts that continue to this day, and what is being done (or not being done) to stop them (or continue them). The story, told from the point of view of Nicholas Cage's Ukranian immigrant, is actually a very dark comedy, but it's not really laugh-out-loud funny, so much as laugh-in-desperation funny. Here's a sample bit of dialogue:
"There are over 550 million firearms in worldwide circulation. That's one firearm for every twelve people on the planet. The only question is: How do we arm the other 11?"
The only big drawback I found in the movie is that the dialogue is sometimes very heavy-handed (for every good bit of dialogue, there's something like "Well, I'd tell you to go to Hell, but I'd say you're already there"). And, obviously, it deals in a realistic way with many of the battles that took place in recent years in Africa and the Middle East, and a lot of this involves kids either serving as soldiers or being the target of soldiers. Some of it is upsetting, but it is all done realistically and with a purpose.
