Ambition is in such short supply at the multiplex -- look and weep at the formula drool of Just Like Heaven -- that it seems churlish to hammer Lord of War for having too much of it. But the poison arrows of satire that writer-director Andrew Niccol aims at international arms dealing and the great powers who let it happen for their own gain -- the U.S. dangles prominently on Niccol's hook -- are frustratingly scattershot.

It helps that Nicolas Cage is a sparking live wire as Yuri Orlov, the…

Leaving bad memories of S1m0ne behind, director Andrew Niccol returns to form with this psychological action thriller about a globetrotting arms dealer whose greatest enemy is not a cunning business rival, murderous third world dictators or his oblivious family. It's his own conscience.

Story

Still living with his immigrant family in Brighton Beach, Yuri Orlov (Nicolas Cage) has had enough--the family restaurant has no customers, his cook brother Vitaly (Jared Leto) can't cook and his mother…