For What It's Worth - Buffalo Springfield
Money (That's What I Want) - The Flying Lizards
La Vie en rose - Grace Jones
Young Americans - David Bowie
Cocaine - Eric Clapton
It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Andy Williams
Volga's Boatmen's Song - Dimitri Oleg Yachinov
Glory Box - Portishead
U Ready to Die - Quake
Fade into You - Mazzy Star
Bombay Theme Tune - A. R. Rahman
Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley
Un brano dall'opera Il lago dei cigni di PĂ«tr Il'iÄŤ ÄŚajkovskij
Cast: Nicolas Cage (Yuri Orlov) Ethan Hawke (Jack Valentine) Jared Leto (Vitaly Orlov) Sake Tukhmanyan (Irina Orlov) Jean-Pierre Nshanian (Anatoly Orlov) Bridget Moynahan (Ava Fontane) Jasper Lenz (Gregor) Kobus Marx (Boris) Stephan De Abreu (Liev) Jeremy Crutchley (Mercante d'armi in fiera) Ian Holm (Simeon Weisz) Tanya Finch (Ingrid) Eamonn Walker (Andrè Baptiste sr.) Tanit Phoenix (Candy) Evgeniy Lazarev (Generale Dmitri)
Musica: Antonio Pinto
Costumi: Elisabetta Beraldo
Scenografia: Jean-Vincent Puzos
Fotografia: Amir Mokri
Montaggio: Zach Staenberg
Effetti Speciali: Tyrone Stevenson (supervisore South Africa),
Makeup: Jaroslav Samal (Repubblica Ceca); Allen Weisinger (per Nicolas Cage)
Casting: Mindy Marin
Scheda film aggiornata al:
28 Gennaio 2025
Sinossi:
Il giovane Yuri Orlov e la sua famiglia arrivano negli Stati Uniti dall'Ucraina, fingendosi ebrei per ricevere condizioni immigratorie migliori, e si stabiliscono nella periferia di New York, la cosiddetta Little Odessa di Brooklyn. Un giorno Yuri assiste ad un fallito omicidio nel quale un boss della mafia russa riesce a sopravvivere e ad eliminare i suoi esecutori per poi girarsi, guardarlo fisso negli occhi e decidere di graziare il giovane testimone. Yuri capisce quindi che il suo compito non è lavorare nel ristorante di famiglia ma soddisfare un altro bisogno umano: uccidere.
Poco dopo l'inizio della sua carriera Yuri riesce ad incontrare ad una fiera di armi l'esperto mercante Simeon Weisz, chiedendogli di diventare socio nel business, ma questi lo etichetta subito come un dilettante con cui non ha nulla a che spartire. Yuri continua comunque la sua piccola attivitĂ assieme al fratello Vitaly e lentamente i due cominciano a scalare il mondo del traffico d'armi, cominciando ad espandersi con la vendita di M16 abbandonati, presumibilmente dal ritiro delle forze armate statunitensi dal teatro della guerra del Libano del 1982.
Nel frattempo Jack Valentine continua la sua indagine su Yuri e riesce a trovarlo in Sierra Leone, ma anche questa volta l'astuzia di Yuri ha la meglio. Baptiste, sempre piĂą legato a Yuri, arriva a catturare per lui Weisz e ad ucciderlo assieme a lui, sebbene Yuri sia riluttante. Ava, insospettita dalla sempre piĂą pressante presenza della polizia, dopo una visita di Valentine scopre l'attivitĂ criminosa di Yuri e, dopo un confronto, questi accetta l'idea di investire il suo talento e la sua ricchezza in attivitĂ oneste.
Al rientro in America Yuri viene arrestato da Valentine e abbandonato da tutti i suoi cari, ma quando viene interrogato si dice convinto che grazie ai suoi contatti altolocati riuscirĂ ad uscire di galera. La "profezia" di Yuri si avvera e, nonostante le prove schiaccianti contro di lui, viene liberato. Ormai solo al mondo, a Yuri non rimane altro che dedicarsi all'attivitĂ in cui ha la maledizione di eccellere.
Storyline:
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.
