Lord of War 🎥 2005 Movie Info

Plot Summary

Ukrainian-American restaurateur Yuri Orlov witnesses a gunfight amongst the Russian mafia in his area of Brighton Beach. The incident inspires him to begin trafficking arms for personal profit. Through a contact at his father’s synagogue, he acquires an Uzi and makes his first sale, eventually convincing his reluctant younger brother Vitaly to become his partner in crime. The two brothers get their big break with the Lebanese Civil War following the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings. As he prospers financially, Yuri increasingly witnesses his activities directly enabling atrocities and war crimes, and is relentlessly pursued by Jack Valentine of Interpol; Valentine represents a unique and persistent threat to Yuri’s business because he has a particularly strong moral compass and cannot be bribed or coerced into backing down.

Meanwhile, an arms deal with a Colombian drug lord ends with the brothers being forcefully paid off with a large shipment of cocaine, to which Vitaly soon develops a severe addiction. Yuri checks him into a rehabilitation center and continues building his empire in his absence. He uses his profits to seduce and marry a supermodel named Ava Fontaine. She later gives birth to their son Nikolai. Upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Yuri flies to Ukraine and meets his uncle Dmitri, a Soviet general who is overseeing the distribution of the assets of the Soviet Armed Forces.

As he illegally supplies Yuri and rebuffs his competition, Dmitri is killed in a car bombing orchestrated by rival arms dealer Simeon Weisz. Yuri then expands his empire to Africa and starts doing business with Liberian dictator André Baptiste. As a “gift” to honor their alliance, Baptiste captures Weisz and offers Yuri a chance to execute him; Yuri refuses, but Baptiste puts the gun into his hand and pulls the trigger.

Meet the Cast