(15, 121 mins) Starring Nicolas Cage, Ethan Hawke, Jared Leto, Bridget Moynahan, Eamonn Walker, Ian Holm, Jean-Pierre Nshanian, Shake Toukhmanian and Eugene Lazarev. Directed by Andrew Niccol

Think Traffic with guns or Goodfellas with an extra helping of dubious morals and you're some way to understanding the intentions of gun-running drama Lord Of War.

With writer-director Andrew Niccol taking aim at the contentious subject of international arms trade and Nic Cage putting aside his king-of-kook persona to play an amoral dealer of death, this interesting effort mixes political satire with explosive action, offering an entertaining glimpse into a world where morality takes second place to cold, hard cash.

As international arms dealer Yuri Orlov (Cage) remarks in the film's bravura opening sequence: There are over 550 million firearms in worldwide circulation. That's one firearm for every 12 people on the planet. The only question is: How do we arm the other 11?

With the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukranian immigrant Yuri breaks away from his family's New York kosher restaurant and takes advantage of huge stockpiles of weapons to make himself and his cocaine-addicted brother Vitaly (Leto) massive amounts of moolah.

Forging links with Andre Baptiste Sr (Walker), the sadistic President of Liberia, Yuri makes a name for himself as the go-to-guy for cut-price arsenals.

But competition from rival arms dealer Simeon Weisz (Holm) and the threat of discovery by Interpol agent Jack Valentine (Hawke) keep Yuri on his toes.

Lord Of War is a curious conflation of genres which don't always complement one another.

Niccol begins confidently with a breathtaking opening credits sequence, following a bullet on its journey to wartorn Africa. Also, there is no doubting his honourable intentions, lambasting the hypocrisy of governments, which reap the rewards of the global gun trade.

However, the film is overlong and misfires badly in the middle third, allowing the dramatic momentum to dissipate as Yuri gallivants around the globe in his incessant greed for green at any cost.

Cage and Leto are both solid, and Moynahan impresses in a vastly underdeveloped supporting role as the object of Yuri's affection, while Hawke barely registers.

Niccol shoots to kill but, after 121 minutes, he's still a little shy of the target.