Save for occasional genre items like George Romero's Land Of The Dead, which sneaks political allegory into the requisite mayhem, it's become so rare for a big-budget film to tackle the issues of the day directly that one that does is like a splash of cold water. Told through the eyes of a soulless gun-runner, Andrew Niccol's bracing Lord Of War looks at the nuts-and-bolts business of contemporary warfare from the supply side, and comes to some disquieting conclusions about whose hands are really dirty. Niccol sometimes operates in broad strokes—his previous features as a writer-director (Simone and Gattaca) and screenwriter (The Truman Show) reveal a knack for high-minded high-concept—but his bluntness seems entirely appropriate here, the natural outcome of having a strong, clear, passionate vision. From the inspired opening credits, which follows a bullet from its creation to its delivery to its final resting place in the skull of an underaged warrior, Lord Of War charges bravely and relentlessly into volatile territory, and it's hard to leave unscarred by the experience.
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