Lord of War

Last updated

Lord of War
Lordofwar.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Andrew Niccol
Written byAndrew Niccol
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography Amir Mokri
Edited by Zach Staenberg
Music by Antonio Pinto
Production
companies
  • Ascendant Pictures
  • Entertainment Manufacturing Company
  • VIP Medienfonds
  • Saturn Films
Distributed by Lions Gate Films (United States)
Arclight Films (international)
Release date
  • September 16, 2005 (2005-09-16)(United States)
Running time
121 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$42-60 million [1] [2]
Box office$72.6 million [3]

Lord of War is a 2005 crime drama film written and directed by Andrew Niccol, starring Nicolas Cage, Jared Leto, Bridget Moynahan, and Ethan Hawke. Lord of War follows Yuri Orlov as he enters the illegal arms trade shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, eventually becoming a well known and unscrupulous gun runner. The film was released in the United States by Lions Gate Films on September 16, 2005, and was released internationally by Arclight Films. The film grossed US$ 72.6 million at the box office.

Contents

Critical reception was mixed. Many publications praised the opening sequence's messaging along with Cage's performance as Yuri. Others criticized the film's lack of focus and handling of Yuri's character.

A sequel for Lord of War was announced on May 8, 2023.

Plot

Yuri Orlov, the eldest son of a family of Ukrainian refugees is visiting a restaurant in Brighton Beach where he witnesses a Russian mobster kill two assassins holding Kalashnikov rifles. The incident inspires him to go into the arms trade. After meeting a contact at his temple and completing his first sale of an Uzi sub-machine gun to a local mobster, Yuri convinces his younger brother Vitaly to become his partner.

The two brothers get their first break during the 1982 Lebanon War, where they sell weapons to both Israeli and Lebanese troops despite seeing the weapons be used to commit atrocities. As Yuri prospers, he eventually catches the attention of Interpol agent Jack Valentine. Valentine represents a unique threat to Yuri because he is after recognition, not money, and cannot be bribed. Vitaly becomes addicted to cocaine after a Colombian drug lord forces the brothers to accept several kilos of cocaine as payment. Yuri checks Vitaly into a drug rehabilitation clinic and continues alone. He uses his profits to seduce and marry his favorite model, Ava Fontaine.

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Yuri flies to Ukraine and illegally buys Soviet military hardware through his uncle, a former Soviet general who is overseeing the distribution of weapons to the newly formed Ukrainian Army. His uncle dies in a car bombing by Yuri's rival, arms dealer Simeon Weisz. Yuri expands his business to Africa, where he supplies Andre Baptiste Sr., a bloody Liberian dictator.

Valentine tells Ava that her husband is an arms dealer, prompting her to confront him. In response, Yuri starts trading timber and oil, but becomes frustrated with the lower profits of honest work. When Baptiste visits him in person and offers him the largest payday of his career, a stash of valuable blood diamonds, Yuri returns to crime. Ava follows him one day, unaware that Interpol is following her, and she discovers the shipping container that holds his arms-dealing office.

Yuri picks up Vitaly to assist him with a deal in Sierra Leone, where a militia force allied with Baptiste is preparing to destroy a refugee camp. Vitaly pleads with Yuri to abandon the deal after witnessing Baptiste's men kill a woman and child with machetes, but Yuri refuses, knowing that Baptiste's men would kill them. In response, Vitaly steals a pair of grenades and destroys a truck full of weapons, also killing Baptiste's son, before he is gunned down. Yuri is spared and receives half his payment for the remaining truckload. He pays a doctor to forge Vitaly's death certificate and remove the bullets from his body, but a missed bullet is found by customs officials, and Yuri is arrested. Ava divorces Yuri, and his parents disown him.

Valentine detains Yuri in anticipation of his trial and conviction, but Yuri is unfazed. He tells Valentine that a high-ranking officer will shortly knock on the door and insist on his release. He explains that while he is a criminal, his crime sometimes serves the interests of the U.S. government. Valentine hears a knock at the door, looks at Yuri for a moment, and rebukes him.

Yuri is released and soon returns to the arms trade. The film concludes with a statement that the five largest arms producers in the world—the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, China, and France—are also the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

Cast

The cast also includes Sammi Rotibi as André Baptiste Jr, the son of André Baptiste Sr; Ian Holm as Simeon Weisz, an infamous arms dealer and rival to Yuri; Tanit Phoenix as Candy, Vitaly Orlov's girlfriend; and Eugene Lazarev, a Soviet Union general and Yuri's uncle.

Production

Pre-production

Lord of War originated a couple of years before 2004 when Andrew Niccol, a New Zealand screenwriter, wrote the original script. An agent of the Creative Artists Agency eventually gave Philippe Rousselet, a French film producer, the script in 2004, summarizing it as a " Goodfellas in the world of arms dealing". Rousselet was impressed by the script but could not find an American studio that would take it on, as it was pitched to studios right before the beginning of the Iraq War, an 8 year armed conflict beginning with the United States' invasion of Iraq. As commented by Entertainment Weekly , studios were not eager to finance a film that drew "troubling conclusions" about the role of the American military providing weapons to dictators. [5] [6]

An additional complication was that scenes in the script were written to occur in up to 13 different countries, requiring filming in varying locations. The film planned to make use of the United Kingdom tax fund Movision, but the expenses cap in Section 48 of the Finance Act of 2004 disqualified the film. South Africa provided financial incentives for filming, such as paying back 15% of all expenditures incurred within its borders. [5]

Rousselet reported to Variety that the financing necessary for the film was a mixture of debt taken on with Citibank West, the VIP3 German tax fund, and foreign sales. The remainder was paid by Rousselet. [5]

Production

Shooting began on July 19, 2004. [1] Production was primarily based in South Africa, the Czech Republic and New York City. Scenes in Ukraine were filmed in the Czech Republic, and scenes in Africa, the Caribbean, and Beirut were all filmed in South Africa. Effort was taken to have extras that looked appropriate for every country depicted, both in attire and ethnicity. Due to the film's low budget, many scenes were constructed with only basic elements. One scene consisted entirely of 10,000 clay bricks and an extra in North African garb. [7]

While filming in the Czech Republic, Niccol discovered it was cheaper to purchase real firearms rather than props, and so he purchased 3,000 Kalashnikovs. Most were sold back at a loss, though some were sawed in half to remove them from circulation. Niccol commented that he found it disturbing how easy it was to purchase them. [8] Niccol met a variety of arms dealers during the production process, which he came to like. He attributed their likeability despite their profession to the fact that they were very good salesmen. A particular scene in the film featured a line of fifty T-72 tanks. These were provided by a source in the same country, and they told Niccol that he could use them until December, as they were needed back by then to sell to Libya. [9] NATO had to be told about the tanks, as satellite imagery suggested a weapons build up in the country. Another sequence of scenes showed Yuri co-piloting an Antonov An-12 transport plane. The plane was provided by an arms dealer, and it was actively being used for transporting firearms during the time of production. [7] [10]

Release

Box office

Lord of War released theatrically on September 16, 2005. Lions Gate Films provided distribution in the United States while Arclight Films distributed in other territories. It grossed a total of $24.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $48.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $72.6 million. [1] [2] [3]

The film grossed $9.4 million in the United States and Canada, $105 thousand in Latin America, $4.1 million in Europe, and $1.1 million in the Asian Pacific on there respective opening weekends. The film ranked number three in the opening weekend box office category behind Just Like Heaven and The Exorcism of Emily Rose in the United States and Canada. [3]

Critical reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 62% of 150 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.30/10.The website's consensus reads: "While Lord of War is an intelligent examination of the gun trade, it is too scattershot in its plotting to connect" [11] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 62 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. [12] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B-" on an A+ to F scale. [13]

The opening scene of the film, showcasing the point of view of a bullet being made and eventually fired out of a rifle, was praised by critics. [14] [15] David Denby of The New Yorker characterized the sequence as "malicious wit" from Niccol, commenting that by forcing the audience to watch it, Niccol suggested that they were complicit in the sale of firearms. [16] In a review by Harry Haun, writing for the Film Journal Institute, he wrote that he wished the film was as direct and "head on" as the opening sequence was. [17] Rahul Hamid of Cinéaste stated that the "sensational opening effectively makes the same point that the film will explore ... that violence around the world begins and ends directly at our doorstep." [18]

Praise was also given to Cage's performance as Yuri Orlov. Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post stated that Cage was cast well for Yuri, writing that "he has the right scale and size to portray a man who isn't meant to resemble anyone real". [19] Stephen McIntire, writing for Business Record [Des Moines], wrote that Cage's screen persona was a good balance of one-liners and witty dialogue. [20] Geoffry Macnab of Sight & Sound stated that Cage's interpretation of Yuri was someone audiences would root for due to his sleek charisma. [21]

Some publications criticized the focus of the film, questioning if the narrative and messaging were well balanced. In a review by the New York Amsterdam News , written by Natasha Grant, she characterized the narration by Cage as preachy without the audience being given a clear reason as to why they should care, stating the film may have been better as a documentary. [14] McIntire was critical of the film for "[playing] fast and loose with both external and internal facts." He goes on to state that the primary focus of the film is on the illegal sale of firearms, but the film concludes criticizing the sale of firearms by governments, which McIntire called a "blatant bait-and-switch". [20] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly commented that Lord of War was a trailer, acting as a lecture, and bearing the length of a feature film. [22] Mick LaSalle, writing for the San Francisco Chronicle , criticized the film for failing to answer questions regarding the logistics of gun-running that it introduces, such as how buyers are found or where merchandise is stored. [23]

Critics also took issue with the handling of Yuri's character. LaSalle wrote that Yuri is a shell of a character designed to be a perfect gundealer and that, despite the character having turning points, the character hits metaphorical rock bottom twice, with LaSalle writing that the second did not have much meaning. [23] Haun referred to the character of Yuri as a "soft-focused ... central character", and that due to the fact he was inspired by five different real-world individuals, the film had too little humanity that could make Yuri understandable to the audience. [17] Macnab stated that it was ironic that Yuri, despite being charismatic, never changed throughout the film. He writes that in one particular scene, it appears Yuri is full of such intense self-loathing that he goes on a "booze and drug-fueled binge", but it does not have any narrative effect because he "always recaptures his composure". Macnab compared the writing of Yuri's conscience to Yuri's drug habit, being something that he is always able to get over, resulting in the critical nature of the arms trade coming across as ambivalent. [21]

Two years after the film's release Amnesty International, a non-governmental organization focusing on human rights, released a statement of support for the film due to it "[illustrating] the deadly impact of the uncontrolled global arms trade." [24]

Accolades

The film received a special mention for excellence in filmmaking from the National Board of Review. [25]

Historical accuracy

Viktor Bout in 2010. Publications claim that Yuri Orlov was inspired by 5 different gun runners, with some naming Bout in particular. Viktor Bout.jpg
Viktor Bout in 2010. Publications claim that Yuri Orlov was inspired by 5 different gun runners, with some naming Bout in particular.

Publications report that Yuri is based on five criminal arms dealers. [17] [27] [14] Forbes , The Independent , and The New York Times name Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer, as a specific source of inspiration. Yuri shares characteristics with Bout, and several events in Lord of War mirror actions attributed to him. For example, both men held the nickname "Merchant of Death", sold weapons to both sides of the same conflict, and traveled with multiple passports, among other similarities. [26] [28] [29]

In 2015, the National Security Archive reported that Sarkis Soghanalian, an Armenian-Lebanese arms dealer, was an inspiration for Yuri's character. [30]

Sequel

A sequel to Lord of War, titled Lords of War, was scheduled to begin filming in the fall of 2023. Cage is reportedly returning as Yuri Orlov, as well as producer alongside Rousselet, with Bill Skarsgård reportedly executive producing and playing the character's son. CAA Media Finance is handling the United States and Canada rights while FilmNation Entertainment is representing the film's sales in all other territories. [31]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arms trafficking</span> Illegal trafficking or smuggling of contraband weapons or ammunition

Arms trafficking or gunrunning is the illicit trade of contraband small arms, explosives, and ammunition, which constitutes part of a broad range of illegal activities often associated with transnational criminal organizations. The illegal trade of small arms, unlike other organized crime commodities, is more closely associated with exercising power in communities instead of achieving economic gain. Scholars estimate illegal arms transactions amount to over US$1 billion annually.

<i>Leaving Las Vegas</i> 1995 film by Mike Figgis

Leaving Las Vegas is a 1995 American drama film written and directed by Mike Figgis and based on the semi-autobiographical 1990 novel of the same name by John O'Brien. Nicolas Cage stars as a suicidal alcoholic in Los Angeles who, having lost his family and been recently fired, has decided to move to Las Vegas and drink himself to death. He loads a supply of liquor and beer into his BMW and gets drunk as he drives from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Once there, he develops a romantic relationship with a prostitute played by Elisabeth Shue and the film shifts to include her narrative perspective. O'Brien died from suicide after signing away the film rights to the novel.

<i>Doctor Zhivago</i> (film) 1965 epic film by David Lean

Doctor Zhivago is a 1965 epic historical romance film directed by David Lean with a screenplay by Robert Bolt, based on the 1957 novel by Boris Pasternak. The story is set in Russia during World War I and the Russian Civil War. The film stars Omar Sharif in the title role as Yuri Zhivago, a married physician and poet whose life is altered by the Russian Revolution and subsequent civil war, and Julie Christie as his love interest Lara Antipova. Geraldine Chaplin, Tom Courtenay, Rod Steiger, Alec Guinness, Ralph Richardson, Siobhán McKenna, and Rita Tushingham play supporting roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bugs Moran</span> American criminal (1893-1957)

George Clarence "Bugs" Moran was an American Chicago Prohibition-era gangster. He was incarcerated three times before his 21st birthday. Seven members of his gang were gunned down and killed in a warehouse in the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre of February 14, 1929, supposedly on the orders of his rival Al Capone.

<i>The Truman Show</i> 1998 American comedy-drama film by Peter Weir

The Truman Show is a 1998 American psychological comedy-drama film directed by Peter Weir, produced by Scott Rudin, Andrew Niccol, Edward S. Feldman, and Adam Schroeder, and written by Andrew Niccol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Niccol</span> New Zealand screenwriter, producer and film director

Andrew Niccol is a New Zealand screenwriter, producer, and director. He wrote and directed Gattaca (1997), Simone (2002), Lord of War (2005), In Time (2011), The Host (2013), and Good Kill (2014). He wrote and co-produced The Truman Show, which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and won him the BAFTA Award in the same category. His high-concept science fiction films tend to explore social, cultural and political issues; artificial realities, simulations and the male gaze are frequent themes in his work.

<i>Octopussy</i> 1983 James Bond film by John Glen

Octopussy is a 1983 spy film and the thirteenth in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions. It is the sixth to star Roger Moore as the MI6 agent James Bond. It was directed by John Glen and the screenplay was written by George MacDonald Fraser, Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yuri Orlov</span> Soviet physicist and dissident (1924–2020)

Yuri Fyodorovich Orlov was a particle accelerator physicist, human rights activist, Soviet dissident, founder of the Moscow Helsinki Group, a founding member of the Soviet Amnesty International group,. He was declared a prisoner of conscience while serving nine years in prison and internal exile for monitoring the Helsinki human rights accords, he was declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International as a founder of the human rights movement in the Soviet Union. Following his release from exile, Orlov was allowed to emigrate to the U.S. and became a professor of physics at Cornell University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viktor Bout</span> Russian arms dealer (born 1967)

Viktor Anatolyevich Bout is a Tajik-born Russian arms dealer. A weapons manufacturer and former Soviet military translator, he used his multiple companies to smuggle arms from Eastern Europe to Africa and the Middle East during the 1990s and early 2000s. Bout gained the nicknames the "Merchant of Death" and "Sanctions Buster" after British minister Peter Hain read a report to the United Nations in 2003 on Bout's wide-reaching operations, extensive clientele, and willingness to bypass embargoes.

<i>A Dame to Kill For</i> 1993–1994 comic book series by Frank Miller

A Dame to Kill For is a comic book limited series written and drawn by Frank Miller and first published by Dark Horse Comics in 1993. It is the second story in Miller's Sin City series, and the first to be published in miniseries format. It has since been reprinted in graphic novel format in four separate editions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John McIntire</span> American actor (1907–1991)

John Herrick McIntire was an American character actor who appeared in 65 theatrical films and many television series. McIntire is well known for having replaced Ward Bond, upon Bond's sudden death in November 1960, as the star of NBC's Wagon Train. He played Christopher Hale, the leader of the wagon train from early 1961 to the series' end in 1965. He also replaced Charles Bickford, upon Bickford's death in 1967, as ranch owner Clay Grainger on NBC's The Virginian for four seasons.

Brown-brown is a purported form of cocaine or amphetamine insufflation mixed with smokeless gunpowder. This powder often contains nitroglycerin, a drug prescribed for heart conditions, which might cause vasodilation, permitting the cocaine or amphetamine insufflation to move more freely through the body. This, in turn, is believed to allow for a more intense high. The term may also refer to heroin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ava Lord</span> Fictional character

Ava Lord is a fictional character in Frank Miller's Sin City universe, the title character in the graphic novel A Dame to Kill For. An ex-lover of Dwight McCarthy, she manipulates men with her good looks and an innocent facade for her own personal gain or amusement. An expert liar, she is considered a goddess by Manute, her towering manservant, and a "manipulative bitch" by Dwight. She represents the classic femme fatale, acting as a foil to Dwight's hard-boiled antihero.

Sarkis Garabet Soghanalian, nicknamed the Merchant of Death, was a Syrian-Lebanese-Armenian international private arms dealer who gained fame for being the "Cold War's largest arms merchant" and the lead seller of firearms and weaponry to the former government of Iraq under Saddam Hussein during the 1980s.

Orlov or Orlova is a Russian surname derived from the noun орёл "eagle". It is shared by the following people:

<i>Gun</i> (2010 film) 2010 American film

Gun is a 2010 American crime action film directed by Jessy Terrero, written by 50 Cent and starring himself, Val Kilmer and James Remar. Filming took place in Detroit and Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The Ukrainian mafia is a type of criminal organization with origins in Ukraine. Such organizations are regarded as one of the most influential types of organized crime coming out of the former USSR, including also the Russian mafia, the Georgian mafia, the Chechen mafia, the Armenian mafia and the Azerbaijani mafia. Ukrainian criminal organizations are involved in a significant number of illegal activities. Although Ukrainian criminal organizations are for the most part independently operating enterprises, they are sometimes connected with Russian mafia organizations, such as the case with Semyon Mogilevich.

The Russian mafia has frequently been a subject of works in popular culture.

<i>AK-47</i> (2020 film) 2020 Russian film

AK-47 is a 2020 Russian biographical film about the experiences of Mikhail Kalashnikov, inventor of the AK-47 assault rifle.

Philippe Rousselet is a French film producer. He won the Academy Award for Best Picture for the 2021 American film CODA, a remake of the 2014 French film La Famille Bélier, which he had also produced.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Dunkley, Cathy (May 13, 2004). "Thesps Going to 'War'". Daily Variety. Vol. 283, no. 28. p. 6. ISSN   0011-5509. EBSCOhost   13150554.
  2. 1 2 Dana, Harris (April 29, 2005). "Lions Gate is Lord of 'War'". Daily Variety. Vol. 287, no. 21. p. 5. ISSN   0011-5509. EBSCOhost   16914720.
  3. 1 2 3 "Lord of War". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on August 20, 2023. Retrieved August 20, 2023.
  4. Suebsaeng, Asawin (April 26, 2012). "Charles Taylor Convicted of War Crimes. Finally!". Mother Jones . Archived from the original on August 17, 2021. Retrieved August 20, 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 Swart, Sharon (September 7, 2004). "Financial case study: 'Lord of War'". Variety . Archived from the original on May 13, 2023. Retrieved August 20, 2023.
  6. Bierly, Mandi; Boeth, Jennifer; Brown, Scott; Cruz, Clarissa; Daly, Steve; Dombal, Ryan; Drumming, Neil; Feitelberg, Amy; Fiore, Raymond; Flynn, Gillian; Fonseca, Nicholas; Gunatilaka, Tim; Jensen, Jeff; Katz, Paul; Karger, Dave; Kirschling, Gregory; Kung, Michelle; Labrecque, Jeff; Miller, Nancy (August 19, 2005). Marc Bernardin (ed.). "Lord of War". Entertainment Weekly (834): 38–38. ISSN   1049-0434. EBSCOhost   18012347.
  7. 1 2 The Making of 'Lord of War' (DVD). Lions Gate Films. January 17, 2006.
  8. "Director finds real guns cheaper than props". The New Zealand Herald . September 13, 2005. Archived from the original on August 20, 2023. Retrieved August 20, 2023.
  9. Tall, Kevin (December 18, 2020). "Why Nicolas Cage's Lord Of War Used Real Guns Instead Of Props". Looper. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
  10. Chadwick, Alex (September 16, 2005). "'Lord of War': An Arms Dealer as Hero". NPR. Archived from the original on October 26, 2023. Retrieved October 26, 2023.
  11. "Lord of War". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media. OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  12. "Lord of War". Metacritic . Fandom, Inc. Retrieved January 8, 2024.
  13. "Cinemascore - Movie Title Search". Cinemascore. Archived from the original on May 24, 2019. Retrieved November 6, 2023.
  14. 1 2 3 Grant, Natasha (September 15, 2005). "Walk a mile in a gun runner's shoes with 'Lord of War'". New York Amsterdam News . Vol. 96, no. 38. p. 22. ISSN   1059-1818. EBSCOhost   18877090.
  15. Koehler, Robert (September 7, 2005). "Film Review - Lord of War". Daily Variety. Vol. 288, no. 46. ISSN   0011-5509. EBSCOhost   18212236.
  16. Denby, David (September 26, 2005). "GUNS AND MONEY". The New Yorker . Vol. 81, no. 29. ISSN   0028-792X. EBSCOhost   18337626.
  17. 1 2 3 Haun, Harry (November 2005). "Lord of War". Film Journal Institute. Vol. 108, no. 11. p. 110. ISSN   1526-9884. EBSCOhost   19222407.
  18. Hamid, Rahul (2006). "[Untitled]". Cinéaste . Vol. 31, no. 2. pp. 52–55. JSTOR   41689973.
  19. Hornaday, Ann (September 16, 2005). "'Lord of War' Drives The Devil's Bargain". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 5, 2023.
  20. 1 2 McIntire, Stephen (September 19, 2005). "'Lord of War' misfires". Business Record [Des Moines]. Vol. 23, no. 38. p. 50. ISSN   1068-6681. Gale   A137013667.
  21. 1 2 Macnab, Geoffry (December 2005). "Lord of War". Sight & Sound. Vol. 15, no. 22. p. 2. ISSN   0037-4806. EBSCOhost   505170041.
  22. Gleiberman, Owen (September 23, 2005). "Lord of War". Entertainment Weekly. No. 841. p. 64. ISSN   1049-0434. EBSCOhost   18493308.
  23. 1 2 LaSalle, Mick (September 16, 2005). "'Lord of War' lost in no-man's-land between fact and fiction". SFGate . Retrieved November 6, 2023.
  24. "The Lord of War" (Press release). Amnesty International. Archived from the original on October 12, 2007. Retrieved August 20, 2023.
  25. "2005 Award Winners". National Board of Review. December 2005. Archived from the original on August 14, 2021. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  26. 1 2 Bushard, Brian (December 8, 2022). "Viktor Bout: Here's What To Know About Russia's 'Merchant Of War' And Why He Was The Prisoner Exchanged For Brittney Griner". Forbes. Archived from the original on August 21, 2023. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  27. Travers, Peter (October 6, 2005). "Lord of War". Rolling Stone. No. 984. ISSN   0035-791X. EBSCOhost   18444125.
  28. Hopkins, Valerie; Yuhas, Alan (December 8, 2022). "Who Is Viktor Bout, the Arms Dealer in the Swap for Brittney Griner?". The New York Times . Archived from the original on January 9, 2023. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  29. Massie, Graeme (December 8, 2022). "'Merchant of death': Who is Viktor Bout, the arms dealer who was swapped for Brittney Griner". The Independent . Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  30. Harper, Lauren (ed.). "The Merchant of Death's Account Book". The National Security Archive. Archived from the original on May 4, 2023. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  31. Vlessing, Etan (May 8, 2023). "Cannes: Nicolas Cage, Bill Skarsgard Nab Leads in Sequel 'Lords of War'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on May 30, 2023. Retrieved August 20, 2023.