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Lord of War | 2005 | R | - 7.8.10

Nicolas Cage stars as a wealthy and powerful arms dealer, who's business empire is thriving because he has no scruples about selling guns to anyone who wants them. But his personal life begins to suffer, and he has to learn how to cope without help from a troublesome conscience. Also with Jared Leto, Bridget Moynahan, Ian Holm and Eamonn Walker. Directed by Andrew Niccol. [2:02]

SEX/NUDITY 7 - A man and a woman have sex while standing against a wall -- he thrusts and moans and her bare breasts are exposed. A man lies on a bed, and a woman lies on top of him kissing his neck (we see her bare breasts and buttocks and part of his bare chest).
 A woman wears a low-cut dress that reveals cleavage and her bare back; the strap of her dress slips off her shoulder and her bare breast is exposed.
 A man and a woman shower together and we see their bare backs and the side of her breast. Two nude women sleep in a bed -- we see their bare backs and buttocks and it is implied that they have had sex with a man. A woman sits nude on a bed (we see her bare back and buttocks).
 Two scantily clad women (cleavage, bare abdomens and bare buttocks are evident) dance on a man's bed; they invite him to have sex with them, they caress him and kiss him and begin to undress him, but he sends them away.
 Two women wearing ultra-short shorts. A woman wears a slip that is open from the hem to the hip and reveals her bare thigh, cleavage and shoulders. Two women wear tiny tops that reveal cleavage and bare abdomens, and a woman wears a low-cut dress that reveals cleavage. A woman wears a bikini in a beach scene.
 A man and a woman kiss pressed against a wall, a man and a woman kiss, and a man and a woman flirt in several scenes.
 A man talks about wanting to have sex with everything he sees. A man compares guns to sex.

VIOLENCE/GORE 8 - A woman and a boy are hacked to death by men with machetes (we see the two victims lying on the ground and the men raising and lowering their weapons).
 A man shoots a man in the head: blood and matter splatter against the wall behind him, we also see a hole in his forehead, and the body is dragged away leaving a trail of thick blood. A man is shot in the head: blood and matter spray on a window and we see the hole in his head.
 A man hits a man in the head with a crowbar, then runs and ignites a truck filled with weapons and ammunition; he runs away and is shot repeatedly by other men nearby (we see bloody holes open in his chest), he quakes, pulls a pin on a grenade and falls motionless (we see a charred body in flames near the truck).
 A large number of people (mostly women and children) are massacred by men with guns and machetes: we hear people panicking and screaming, we see people running, we hear gunshots and see silhouettes and blood on white tents. We see many people with weapons in different countries, and follow a single bullet as it is loaded into a weapon, trained on a few different people, and fired -- we travel with the bullet into a boy's head (we hear a crunch and squish).
 Two men are shot at as they walk through a road -- they see many dead bodies of children when they look through a hole in a wall, and they see boys lined up against a wall, and we hear gunshots when they are all shot.
 Two men enter a restaurant, open fire on a man, and he shoots back and kills them both (we see bloody holes in their clothing). Two men hold guns on each other, and one is shot in the side and we see blood on his shirt.
 We see a dead body in a road with a vulture tugging at the flesh. We see the charred remains of a man lying on the ground.
 A man gets into a car, starts the ignition and the car explodes (we see the car in flames; there's no discernable human figure inside).
 A plane shoots at another plane while flying: one plane lands on a dirt road where people are walking, and they run and scream. An infant sits in a dirt road and a large plane rolls to a stop just before hitting her.
 A man shoots a gun at people as he drives by them on a street. A man holds a blade to another man's throat. A man is held at gunpoint, and a man grabs a gun and shoves it to his chin. A man shoves another man against a wall and yells. Two hyenas snarl and approach a man in a desert.
 A man talks about a man being a cannibal and that he would eat his enemy's heart while it was still beating. A man makes reference to people having their limbs "hacked off." We see young boys dressed in militia gear and referred to as "boy brigades." A man talks about his baser instincts ("I want to kill weaker dogs").
 Many, many gun casings litter a street where a man stands, and we see burned out buildings in the distance and a burning car.
 Armed men on a boat approach a large ship and board it. We see a young girl missing her arm from below the elbow and other people with wounds caused by bullets.

LANGUAGE 10 - 54 F-words and its derivatives, 3 sexual references, 8 scatological terms, 2 anatomical terms, 4 mild obscenities, 2 religious profanities, 9 religious exclamations.

SUBSTANCE USE - A man snorts cocaine mixed with gun powder, a man piles a large amount of cocaine on a table and arranges it to look like the shape of a country, two men snort cocaine, a man smokes cigarettes and snorts cocaine, and a man snorts cocaine off the seat of a car and is then escorted into a rehab center. A man drinks vodka from a bottle, two men drink alcohol together, and people drink wine and champagne with meals and at gatherings. A man smokes cigarettes and drinks alcohol, and a couple of men smoke cigarettes in many scenes.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Weapons trading, civil wars, guerilla warfare, cold wars, the end of the Cold War, redistribution of wealth, the CIA, peace, Africa, AIDS, politics, Pacifism, chaos and anarchy, greed, immigration, the Russian mafia, conflict diamonds, massacres, prostitution, war, bureaucracy, arms embargoes, drug abuse and addiction.

MESSAGE - Greed and power corrupt. Violence is in our nature.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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