Lord of War

When Ava confronts Yuri about his real occupation, she is seen naked from behind.

She then slips on a bathrobe.

Shortly afterward she is seen kneeling in front of Yuri while he is sitting on a sofa, and it appears that she is wearing underwear (bra and panties) beneath the robe.

The K in Kono on the ship is painted right, but in a later shot it's seen painted upwards down.

During the first scene in the restaurant kitchen (set during the Carter administration), a spice jar above the stove prominently features the recognizable black-and-white "Nutrition Information" block that didn't appear on products until the early 1990s.

The car used by Yuri throughout the film is a Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham limousine.

The particular model shown was introduced in 1993, yet Yuri has this car already in some scenes which are supposedly happening in the late '80s.

When narrating the story about early stages of his business in 1980s, Yuri Orlov mentions that he has carried several passports at that time, including the Ukrainian passport.

Ukraine was not in existence as an independent state up until early 1990s.

When Simeon Weisz comes to buy weapons from Yuri's uncle, his lips stay still yet you can hear him saying his name.

His lips only start moving again when he asks the soldier if he knows who he is.

When Yuri telephones home from the Ukraine, he wakes up his wife in the middle of the night (say 11:00pm-5:00am, total darkness).

That would be daytime where he is (about 1:00pm-7:00pm), but the movie shows a night scene.

The T.

Yuri has in his house wasn't available in 1991 Yuri's voice over claims the "U.

Army" got a cut of his sale in Lebanon in the form of Lieutenant Colonel Southern, but the officer was wearing a Marine Corps uniform and wearing Colonel (not Lieutenant Colonel) rank.

Lieutenant Colonel rank, whether Army or Marine, would be represented with a silver oak leaf, not an eagle.

Additionally, this Marine Colonel is wearing the cap of a General but the Emblem of an Enlisted Marine, which makes the rank and service of his entire uniform incorrect.

When INTERPOL has Yuri and his uncle at gunpoint, asking for his papers, Jack Valentine asks whether the ship they met on before was named the Kono or the Kristol.

Right after Yuri replies with a smart comeback, the INTERPOL agent to the left-hand side of Yuri supposedly cocks his gun telling him to "answer the question".

The INTERPOL agent who supposedly cocks his gun has his right hand holding the gun, and clearly has his left hand on Yuri's shoulder while the gun is cocked.

None of his hands could have cocked the gun.

The Soviet troops under General Orlov (Yuri's uncle) all carry Norinco Type-56 assault rifles, a Chinese-made copy of the AK-47 that is distinguished by its smooth receiver cover and hooded front sight.

It would be inaccurate for Russian soldiers to use Chinese-made AKs, and furthermore, the 7.

62-mm AK variants had long been phased out of Soviet service at the time in which the scene takes place (early-1990s).

The Russian troops would actually be armed with 5.

45-mm AK-74s.

When Ava Fontaine and her kid Niccolai Orlov are at the deposit, she tells him to wait by the door.

Then he simply disappears in the background and re-appears again.

At the beginning of the movie, after the scene changes from introduction to Ava Fontaine back to Brighton Beach, the car wreck that we see is of a 4th generation Toyota Camry which was produced from 1997-2001.

At this point, the movie is still in the 1980s.

The map of Ukraine that Vitaly sculpts out of cocaine is a mirror image of the country's actual border.

After finishing the painting of "Kono" and while they are bringing the painter back up aboard, we see all four letters filled out nicely and without smudges.

However, in a short cut the N in Kono is smudged, and then back to normal in the very next cut.

When Valentine is asking Orlov what he's doing in Africa, he replies to his safari lie by asking if he's hunting with a submachine gun and holds up a bullet he finds on the ground.

A submachine gun is a machine gun that fires pistol rounds (9mm,.

45, etc.

Looking closely at the bullet in Valentine's hand and you'll see the distinct shape of a rifle bullet, not a pistol one.

When the soldier is firing the AK-47, it never runs out of ammo, despite the fact it only has a 30 round magazine.

When Jack Valentine visits Ava, he leaves his Interpol business card for her.

The phone number on the card has a 515 area code.

515 is the area code of central Iowa, nowhere near New York City.

In the Beirut scene, Vitaly draws a Beretta 92 pistol which is clearly missing the recoil spring guide.

Without that part, it would probably fire, but very likely not reload properly.

While en route to Sierra Leone from Liberia, Yuri and company travel though a dry and desolate desert.

However, both Liberia and Sierra Leone are in a tropical climate zone, and do not have any deserts such as the one shown.

They would most likely be traveling through savanna or rain forests between the two countries.

In the opening kitchen scene with Vitaly, there is a vodka bottle up on the shelf.

When the camera closes in on Vitaly's face the label is pointed to the left.

They cut to Yuri and then back to Vitaly.

When they do, the label is turned to the rear.

As Orlov's cargo plane is being intercepted over Sierra Leone, it is repeatedly referred to as "Charlie Echo India," supposedly the phonetic call letters for an aircraft with the registration CEI.

However, the registration on the side of the cargo plane clearly has the last three letters CIH, which would be referred to as "Charlie India Hotel" in the alphabet.

When the Soviet Union falls, Nicolai is about 1 year old.

By the end of movie, 10 years have passed and Nicolai is only about 5 years old.

When Yuri is in Lebanon, talking about how he got his first break there, he is shown stopping to look at a Kool's cigarettes billboard.

Lebanon has never had that brand of cigarettes.

Yuri's uncle Dmitri Orlov is introduced as a Major General and wears two stars on his shoulder boards.

Although two stars means a Major General in the US military, in the Soviet/Russian Federation Army two large stars means a Lieutenant General, which is a higher rank than Major General.

When Vitaly throws the grenade into the back of the first truck, he quite obviously makes it about halfway between the two vehicles.

However, by the time the truck explodes, he is only about a quarter of the distance.

In the scene where Jack Valentine enters the port, the name on the entrance "Port Odessa" (in Russian) is backwards so that it can only be read from the inside of the port not from the outside correctly.

The newspaper Yuri reads to his brother is dated Wednesday July 7, 1983, however, the headline story "Arias Peace Plan Calls for Stabilizing Central America" occurred August 7, 1987.

When Yuri and Uncle Dimitri discuss the arms stockpile Yuri mentions that it's "dangerously depleted for a battalion" with "only" 10,000 assault rifles.

However, the average infantry battalion has about 500 riflemen, so 10,000 rifles is a ridiculous amount.

Also, as a Major-General, Uncle Dimitri would not be in charge of a battalion, but of a division (in which case a stockpile of 10,000 rifles would make considerably more sense).

In the arms fair scene set in 1983, Yuri says that Weisz "sold" to both sides during the Iran-Iraq War.

Weisz also speaks in the past tense when referring to that conflict.

The actual time period of the war was 1980 to 1988, so the war was still going on in the timeframe of this scene.

During the 1983 arms fair, Orlov claims the Simeon Weisz sold the Exocet missiles used in the Falklands war.

Those particular Exocet missiles (French made air-ship weapons used by the Argentinean Armada against the Royal Navy) were directly brought by Argentinean president Leopoldo Galtieri from the French government.

In fact, this resulted in an unpleasant reunion involving French president Mitterand and the British government under Prime Minister Thatcher during the peak of hostilities.

No arms dealers were involved, but it is possible that for film reasons movie makers made it so.

When Yuri sells Glock handguns to the drug dealer, two of the Glocks are 3rd generation models not sold until 2000.

The Glock 3rd generations were not sold in 1980.

The other two Glocks are 2nd generation models that fit the era.

You can tell the difference between them because the 3rd generation Glocks have accessory rails, finger grooves in the grip and a thumb groove.

2nd generations have flat handles, no thumb groove and a slanted front nose.

Ava and Yuri's heights change at every cut in the scene at their wedding reception where they discuss her parents.

When viewed from behind Yuri, Ava is taller.

When viewed from behind Ava, Yuri is taller.

In his monologue about the AK-47, Yuri proclaims that the gun was on Soviet coins and on Mozambique's flag.

While several African nations have put the AK-47 on their flag and/or coat of arms (including Mozambique), the AK-47 was never featured on Soviet currency.

At the end of the film it is said that "The world's biggest arms suppliers are the U.

, Russia, France and China.

" This is incorrect.

According to information from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the five biggest arms exporters in 2005 were, in descending orderUSA, Russia, Germany, France and U.

, while China is the 11th.

When Jack and Yuri are sitting down for a talk after Yuri gives all his guns away to the Sierra Leone locals, the sunlight shining on Jack is inconsistent between shots.

When the camera is facing Jack, you can see sunlight shining through his right ear and onto the right side of his face, but when the camera is facing Yuri, the right side of Jack's face is not exposed to the sun.

When Yuri is in his apartment looking down out the window, you can see the Interpol truck is almost completely in the sun.

In the next shot, when you see Jack stepping out of the truck, the entire truck is in the shade.

Although Yuri states that the thousands of assault rifles in the storage warehouse are AK-47s, they are actually Czechoslovakian SA Vz.

58s, distinguished by the different butt-stocks.

When Ava Fontaine enters the container used for Yuri Orlov's gun running business the first section of guns are as follows "Top AK-47", "Bottom M-16 or AR-15" but when the camera shows Ava's perspective they are "Top M-16 or AR-15", "Bottom M-16 or AR-15" and then back to the "Top AK-47", "Bottom M-16 or AR-15" when the camera pulls away form her perspective.

In the scene where Yuri, Vitaly, and Andre's son are traveling to Sierra Leone, 'Jared Leto' (qv)'s tattoo representing his band '30 Seconds To Mars' is clearly visible on his right arm.

In no other scenes is this tattoo visible.

Vitaly fails to pull the pin from the first grenade he throws into a truck, yet the grenade still explodes.

During one of Yuri's narrations, he says that the AK-47 assault rifle is made of "forged steel and plywood.

" While some versions of the AK-47 do have laminated wood stocks and handguards, it is incorrect to refer to that material as "plywood.

" During Yuri's narration upon entering the hotel in Liberia he says, "In the most AIDS infested region of the globe, where one in four is infected.

" This is untrue for West Africa and particular for Liberia where since the identification of HIV, the prevalence rate has never reached 2%.

In fact, in 1995, when Yuri is in Liberia, only 23 people in the entire country had tested positive for the virus.

Even if the regional reference was meant to indicate the entire Sub-Saharan Africa region, the "one in four" statistic is still grossly overestimated as these high rates only exist in a few Southern Africa countries.

When the Liberian dictator shoots one of his guards who is flirting with a woman, the emblem the guard wears on the beret can be seen very clearlytwo crossed swords on oak leaves.

This is, in fact, the official emblem used nowadays in the modern German army.

However it is not uncommon for soldiers in West African armies to not be issued official fatigues or uniforms.

Instead they often will wear second hand clothing that they find in the local markets.

It is possible that the soldier bought the old German army beret.

Both times Yuri takes Vitaly to rehab, the exact same close-up shot of Yuri's hand pouring cocaine out of a vile on to the arm rest of their limo is used.

It is colored differently the second time it is used, but it is still the exact same shot.

Aboard the Kristol, Yuri narrate about how AK-47's were codenamed Angel Kings.

he then speaks on the phone saying that "the Angel Kings will arrive tomorrow", later just after Jack Valentine has left the ship, the camera shoots some potatoes falling to reveal a crate of guns, labeled M-16, which would suggest that the content of the crate is M-16 Rifles and not AK-47's.

When Jack Valentine shows Yuri Orlov a newspaper (dated May 23rd, 2001) in an interrogation room, an article about a death of an alleged pro-communist activist and following events in Korea appears on the left column of the paper.

Though the events that referred to in the article are actual events, they happened in 1987, which is fourteen years before the date on the newspaper.

In order to camouflage his gun-running freighter, M/V "Kristol", Orlov has the name repainted as "Kono".

However, this only happens on the stern.

A vessel also has its name shown on both the starboard and port side of the bow, so the agents bringing up the vessel would still have identified the ship correctly.

Furthermore, the stern of a ship also sports the home port, which also would have had to be changed for the "flag-change" ruse to work, but is nowhere to be seen in the movie.

Agent Valentine gives Ava his business card.

The phone number is in area code 515.

Interpol has no offices in Iowa.

During Yuri's 'first break' in Beirut in 1984 the rifles he is selling are marked "AR-15 A2", as can be seen during the close-up shot.

Peace keepers would still be using the "A1" model.

The A2 was introduced shortly after this particular conflict.

About 56 minutes into the movie two men are seen in Liberia carrying AK-47s.

They also wear lengths of belted ammo.

AKs require an adapters to fire belted ammo which are not shown.

The AKs being carried have magazines in place.

The ammo worn is too long to be 7.

62x39 conventional AK ammo and is more likely to be 7.

62x54r ammo.

In the opening scene the label on the cartridges crate is full of goofs.

It says "Odessa, Ukraine", while there have never been any kind of firearms plants in Odessa, Ukraine.

It says "quantity 1588", but the crate is apparently not big enough to hold 1588 cartridges.

Even the crate itself is a goof - AK cartridges (and most other ammo) are shipped in metal boxes.

Yury uses a cell phone to make a call from the ship at sea where there is no carrier signal.

When they are selling American weapons by the kilo, one of the guns on top of the pile has AR-15 stamped on it.

The AR-15 is the civilian model, the military model should be stamped M-4.

Scary process to follow a lord of war and see all the external forces that keep him immune from all the legal boundaries. Yuri Orlov (Nicholas Cage) dreams of power and wealth were, ultimately, accomplished, but like most mobster or crime stories the verdict is one of blood, tragedy, and destitution.

We all want to make quick bucks, especially if you got the talent for it. You're young, underprivileged, and there's nothing going for you in life - so you've got nothing to lose.

Nicolas Cage, without serious doubts as one of the finest actors of this generation, gives a very strong performance as a gun-happy salesman who trots the globe looking to supply anyone and everyone with all kinds of machinery for all reasons. In the film, we are introduced to him from his humble beginnings to his climactic rise as one of the top gun merchants in the world.

This movie tells a story about something that everyone should think about: morality. It says that there isn't a de facto difference between illegal and immoral but law sanctions the first and life itself the second.

We get a lot of movies about protagonists who smuggle drugs, guns, or some other such thing. There's a host of those films to choose from.

I find that the longer posts on these websites are understandably and promptly ignored, so I'll keep this short. To say this movie is a masterpiece would be an understatement.

It's not every day that Amnesty International endorses a movie.Lord of War is a cynical and nihilistic look at the arms dealing industry.

The best thing about movie is that the Director played easily with harsh truth. He showed how we make logics to legitimate wrongdoings.

It's hard o find a good Nicholas Cage movie, but I really enjoyed this one. He did a good job bringing light to this true story about arms dealing.