Bad Lieutenant
Port of call: New Orleans
Port of call: New Orleans
Movies like this define the career of whoever was playing the main lead. Once the credits rolled, everyone who has seen this movie will only think of one thing: the performance given by Nicolas Cage, the man who played Terrence McDonagh. Terrence is a cop in New Orleans who finds himself and his partner going back to the police station after Hurricane Katrina ravaged through the land. Sent there as requested by a fellow police detective, he quickly discovers that the man had a prisoner in lock-up who wasn’t evacuated off of the premises. Terrence’s partner couldn’t care less, but he himself opted to go down and check it out for himself. There they see that the man is indeed still there, and after a reluctant heroic act, Terrence’s life was ruined. Because he went in to save the man’s life, he suffered some injuries to his back. A visit to the doctor quickly made it clear that he would probably be popping Vicodin for the rest of his life. And if you are a regular viewer of House M.D., you’d know that it’s not exactly something to be taken lightly. Six months pass and Terrence finds himself an addict to every single illegal substance in existence. Still on the job though, he also gets a case in his lap that could require a lot out of him. Namely the murders of several illegal immigrants.
From there on out, the movie is pretty one big rollercoaster of Nicolas Cage. Hate him or love him, Cage has always been a great actor. Whilst it’s not true that he can elevate crappy movies to a higher level, take for instance the movie Next, but he can do miracles for some. Case in point: The Wicker Man. That movie was absolute garbage, and yet he manages to make it a spectacle to behold with him acting like … well, Nicolas Cage. Imagine if he perfected the acting method he used in that movie and used it in Bad Lieutenant, only then will you have a glimmer of the performance he put out in this movie.
You’re probably wondering, why am I talking about Cage so much? Simply because this is his movie. The plot, the other characters … everything takes a back seat to the awesomeness that is Terrence McDonagh.
However, this doesn’t mean that the other characters are boring or lame. No, you could say that they are stock characters. You’ve seen all of them before. The good news is that the actors portraying these characters do their job nicely. Even Xzibit, who really surprised me.
The one other character that does matter is Frankie Donnenfeld, played by Eva Mendez. She is Terrence’s girlfriend/crack buddy. The chemistry between these two and the events between them do contribute a lot to the vibe of the movie and Frankie is the only other character you’ll give two shits about. Sure, there are other characters who you could start caring for, if they had more screen time. Like Terrence’s father and stepmother.
There are some absolutely brilliant moments in this movie that will be remembered for a very long time. Just because it’s so undeniably odd when it happens. The deeper that Terrence goes in his addiction, the more that the cinematography plays to this. For instance, at one moment in the movie, the camera changes perspective to a, euh, point of view that you honestly did not expect. It just perfectly serves the movie and the character.
Nicolas Cage carries this movie from beginning to end and he does it like it was nothing. This is Cage at his best and it might just be one of his best performances ever. It’s one of those movies that you’ll forget most things about, probably because that is exactly what they are, forgettable, except for the absolutely weird stuff that occur during the movie. One thing is for sure, if you are a Nicolas Cage fan, you won’t be doing yourself any favors if you skip this one.
9/10
From there on out, the movie is pretty one big rollercoaster of Nicolas Cage. Hate him or love him, Cage has always been a great actor. Whilst it’s not true that he can elevate crappy movies to a higher level, take for instance the movie Next, but he can do miracles for some. Case in point: The Wicker Man. That movie was absolute garbage, and yet he manages to make it a spectacle to behold with him acting like … well, Nicolas Cage. Imagine if he perfected the acting method he used in that movie and used it in Bad Lieutenant, only then will you have a glimmer of the performance he put out in this movie.
You’re probably wondering, why am I talking about Cage so much? Simply because this is his movie. The plot, the other characters … everything takes a back seat to the awesomeness that is Terrence McDonagh.
However, this doesn’t mean that the other characters are boring or lame. No, you could say that they are stock characters. You’ve seen all of them before. The good news is that the actors portraying these characters do their job nicely. Even Xzibit, who really surprised me.
The one other character that does matter is Frankie Donnenfeld, played by Eva Mendez. She is Terrence’s girlfriend/crack buddy. The chemistry between these two and the events between them do contribute a lot to the vibe of the movie and Frankie is the only other character you’ll give two shits about. Sure, there are other characters who you could start caring for, if they had more screen time. Like Terrence’s father and stepmother.
There are some absolutely brilliant moments in this movie that will be remembered for a very long time. Just because it’s so undeniably odd when it happens. The deeper that Terrence goes in his addiction, the more that the cinematography plays to this. For instance, at one moment in the movie, the camera changes perspective to a, euh, point of view that you honestly did not expect. It just perfectly serves the movie and the character.
Nicolas Cage carries this movie from beginning to end and he does it like it was nothing. This is Cage at his best and it might just be one of his best performances ever. It’s one of those movies that you’ll forget most things about, probably because that is exactly what they are, forgettable, except for the absolutely weird stuff that occur during the movie. One thing is for sure, if you are a Nicolas Cage fan, you won’t be doing yourself any favors if you skip this one.
9/10
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