121 minute running time, but felt like an eternity … great opening sequence and then it all went downhill from there … Nic Coppola has a certain charm, but this movie was all over the place, sort of like it was made by a committee, and it ended with endless talking … there was some promise in parts, but ultimately terrible. You can give it a miss, I should have….

Ann Hornaday got it right: “… the filmmaker relies too heavily on a didactic, epigrammatic script; Yuri doesn't talk or relate to other characters, but simply delivers a series of rules and apercus that could have resulted from a collaboration between Hunter Thompson and Oscar Wilde. ‘Lord of War’ has a hip, gonzo energy to it and it's often transfixing to watch and listen to. But it's finally just as empty as the man it's about.”