Nicolas Cage is The Bad Lieutenant

[omid17]

Might only get a limited release and head to DVD...


Link

Nic Cage's Bad Lieutenant Is Not Going Straight To DVD


http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Nic-Cage-s-Bad-Lieutenant-Is-Not-Going-Straight-To-DVD-15399.html

 

[Dark Donnie]

That's why I said limited release then to DVD ...the article itself was misleading.

 

[omid17]

That's why I said limited release then to DVD ...the article itself was misleading.

 

[Carmine Falcone]

Nic Cage's Bad Lieutenant? It's Werner Herzog's...

 

[Bunker]

It's at 94% on RT with 16 reviews in so far. So glad this won't suck.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bad_lieutenant_port_of_call_new_orleans/

 

[That-Guy]

This movie looks like kind of a double-edged sword.

It appears to be a great role for Nicolas Cage's typical erratic goodfball character. Unfortunately though, I've seen him play that character in so many roles where it wasn't appropriate that I don't know if I can stomach him doing it again in a role where he SHOULD act that way.

I like Cage a lot, but lately he's been faltering in a lot of films, IMO. This movie might actually be really good, but I worry that I'm going to be sitting there thinking I'm watching Johnny Blaze the dirty cop.

However, the positive reviews are a good sign. Maybe Cage has turned the corner in what was looking to be the twilight of his career.

 

[Episode29]

My review:

Lieutenant Terence McDonagh (Nicolas Cage) shuffles along with a stooped gait, one lop-sided shoulder-blade jutting grotesquely sky-wards. Wearily fighting back the urge to scream from every piercing sting emanating from his chronically injured back, and bearing a facial expression that’s twisted into a clammy, rat-like mask, he hides his racked lanky frame under an ill-fitting grey suit, which hangs open messily in the front so as to reveal the comically bulky revolver tucked under his belt.

Tasked with leading a team (which includes Val Kilmer, Shawn Hatosy and Michael Shannon) in discovering the culprit behind a horrific drug-related gangland slaying, McDonagh more closely resembles a brain-deteriorated zombie from a Romero film than an upstanding member of his impoverished New Orleans community. Subsisting on an endless stream of pain medication and narcotics, all he desires is to get high with his prostitute girlfriend Frankie (Eva Mendes) and close the book on the messy homicide case. If only those pesky iguanas would just stop staring at him he’d be able to concentrate...

And so it goes in The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, director Werner Herzog’s off-the-wall spiritual remake of Abel Ferrara’s gritty 1992 cult hit - perhaps best remembered for the chill-inducing scene wherein Harvey Keitel sexually assaulted a quivering, teary-eyed pair of teenage girls with little more than cruel, coarse words and commanding menace – that dares to turn its protagonist’s reckless, tortured journey into a blackly funny cosmic joke. The celebrated German auteur isn’t remotely interested in crafting a by-the-numbers procedural, where good triumphs through determination and proper ethics. No, he’d rather follow McDonaugh into the muck, tenaciously observing, without judgment, the junkie lawman undergoing his dismal daily routine; crudely shaking down intoxicated club kids for drugs, betting away his life savings on college football games – much to the chagrin of his frustrated, unpaid bookie Ned (a nicely understated Brad Dourif) – and terrorizing suspects and their families for vital information.

As embodied, gnarled body and crazy soul, by Cage – in his best performance since 2002’s Adaptation – McDonagh is a truly original creation; a man whose demons have been driving him so long that he wouldn’t know what to do without them. In one of the film’s best scenes he attempts, while blitzed on heroin, to shakedown one of his girlfriend’s clients for cocaine. Using his perpetual hangdog expression to its full electric elasticity, Cage browbeats the man with sullen lids, eyes bleary, only to triumph when his opponent throws up his hands in exasperation and, head shaking, exits the scene. Don’t let the massive handgun fool you, McDonagh couldn’t be more impotent; authoritatively, as when irately confronting an abusive john (hilarious scene-stealer Shea Whigham), and sexually - especially during a pathetic liaison with a former partner (Fairuza Balk).

Occupying a New Orleans perpetually overcast with grey clouds – symbolic of both the morality of the protagonist as well as his consistently down-in-the-dregs mind-set – Herzog fills The Bad Lieutenant’s sad world with ramshackle architecture and dirty little touches suggestive of a crime-infested wasteland, where everyone’s scrambling hand-over-fist to feed some sort of addiction. Only the quiet, unkempt country home of Terence’s recovering alcoholic father Pat (Tom Bower) offers any hope for rehabilitation, and even it has its own resident unstable force in the form of Pat’s perpetually drunk, sad-eyed lover Genevieve (Jennifer Coolidge, in a very strong non-comedic turn), who understands Terence’s plight even if she can’t quite form the words to communicate it.

Bad Lieutenant seems intent on testing audiences with its druggy, meandering pace, which operates on the same shapeless, disjointed level as the title character’s psyche. Herzog wants to immerse us in the movie’s corruption and suffocating dreariness, offering sporadic relief only through McDonagh’s jolts of substance-induced energy, which walk a precariously fine line between being amusingly depraved and offensively revolting. When Cage’s character cuts off an elderly woman’s oxygen and hurls malicious insults at her and her caretaker we laugh not at his behaviour, but at the filmmaker and his star’s go-for-broke fearlessness. Similarly, a climactic crack-fuelled, staccato monologue, delivered in the presence of a local crime-lord (a suitably imposing Xzibit), where the actor messily spits out an unintelligible volley of seemingly disconnected thoughts becomes a viscerally spellbinding study in the joys of complete, unfiltered performance with a capital “P”.

Although the film has a propensity for merrily flying off the rails in spots – the price of channelling insanity, I suppose – and Cage’s inconsistent accent draws some raised eyebrows, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans deserves attention purely for being, hands down, this year’s most skilfully chaotic nutso gem. It’s a sweat-stained cinematic trip that, with Herzog and Cage proudly on duty, feels dangerous and bracing. So, don’t be too surprised if you feel a little numbed and dopey yourself when the film reaches its brutal conclusion. Just watch out for stray iguanas...

4 out of 5

 

[cerealkiller182]

Review
http://rickshq.blogspot.com/2010/01/review-bad-lieutenant-port-of-call-new.html


Nic Cage plays Terrance McDonagh, a bad cop working in a post-Katrina New Orleans. He does not start off so bad since he does jump into the dirty water flooding the precinct to save a nobody junkie from drowning in his holding cell. This brave act gives him a promotion, a medal, and a back problem that eventually leads to a pain killer addiction that starts a slippery slope into more drugs, sex, and violence. A real rock and roll lifestyle.

Wrongfully considered a remake of Abel Ferrar's own Bad Lieutenant, a gritty cult classic with an incredibly visceral performance from Harvey Keital, Nic Cage dials in an equally visceral performance, both depressingly honest and figuratively naked. Being known for no longer picking good movies or giving a good performance, Cage scratches at the surface of recovering from such a bad reputation. He performs admirably, his sulking, lurking strut and nihilistic attitude is pitch perfect for the content, yet there is a time in the movie where like a coin, he flips taking the edge and cheesiness up a few notches. His weird voice pattern and twitchy face become distractions, but it only lasts for a short time. Eva Mendes and Val Kilmer have similar reputations nowadays, but both deliver decent enough performances, even though they are used sparringly. Character actors Jennifer Coolidge, Brad Dourif, Michael Shannon, and Fairuza Balk come and go leaving surprisingly memorable turns leaving me wanting more from them.

The writing is a bit too tongue in cheek, and the cinematography takes daring risks that just do not pan out. The handheld camera shots hugged up to lizards added very little and left me scratching my head. The pacing was characteristically slow, but the content mixed with Cage's character make it seem appropriate. The ending was ultimately dissapointing. We got to watch a pre-junkie Cage begin his life of drug use twisting and turning his psyche to the point of inevitable disaster, yet the story just kind of fades away rather than the explosion that was promised.

Nic Cage gives an almost career saving performance that he can hopefully run with. The movie itself is not without its flaws, but it is a more than decent enough drug-fueled gritty crime yarn with a decent enough character piece.

6/10

 

[[A]]

Great movie

4/5

 

[Ace of Knaves]

****ing sick ass movie 10/10

Anyone who doesn't like Cage in this should be shot and fed to Iguana's.

 

[[A]]

Anyone who doesn't like Cage in this should be shot and fed to Iguana's.

..and once more after that, just in case their souls are still dancing

 

[Ace of Knaves]

HAHA YES!

You know, that scene makes me think he could play Joker in some hard core rated r Batman flick.

 

[[A]]

if the Hype were a better place, this would be my current avatar:





edit: this is the full quality version -- I know it's insane to ask for a 500kb size limit for avatars but 100kb wouldn't be that bad..

 

[[A]]

-double-

 

[Carmine Falcone]

Finally saw it yesterday. Best movie I've seen this year. Herzog is a ****ing champion, Cage is in his holy-****-****ing-great mode here. I also loved the gritty camerawork using alot of long takes and the soundtrack, which was really fitting and cool. A completely unique movie. I'm a fan of cop movies, but nowadays they're mostly pretty generic. This is a brilliant near-parody (or at least a satire) of the stale genre. Never seen anything like it. The shootout using the music from Stroszek is the best scene I have seen in the cinemas this year. Undiluted genius right there.

 

[[A]]

^ glad you liked it (though I had a hunch you would..)

 

[nite-owl]

So I found out the other day that this is finally playing near me, the only problem is that it is on a Saturday and it is starts at seven o'clock and I don't finish work until quarter past.

 

[Carmine Falcone]

^ glad you liked it (though I had a hunch you would..)

It's my kind of movie for sure. One that kinda leaves you scratching your head and does not take the easy way out.

Spoiler

Although....the ending might seem like a cop-out to some people...I for one though that the scene in which nearly all of his problems miraculously end was one of the funniest scenes in the movie

 

[Doctor Jones]

Is this on DVD yet? I need to netflix this.

Out on the 6th. Damn,

 

[Dark Victory]

It's my kind of movie for sure. One that kinda leaves you scratching your head and does not take the easy way out.

Spoiler

Although....the ending might seem like a cop-out to some people...I for one though that the scene in which nearly all of his problems miraculously end was one of the funniest scenes in the movie

Agreed

Spoiler

"GREAT NEWS!!!!"t:

 

[Carmine Falcone]

Agreed

Spoiler

"GREAT NEWS!!!!"t:

Spoiler

Haha, such a great moment. The commissioner popping into the frame grinning like crazy, the audience was in stitches. Also, during the shootout and the choking of the old lady.

 

[Red Mask]

Finally saw it yesterday. Best movie I've seen this year. Herzog is a ****ing champion, Cage is in his holy-****-****ing-great mode here. I also loved the gritty camerawork using alot of long takes and the soundtrack, which was really fitting and cool. A completely unique movie. I'm a fan of cop movies, but nowadays they're mostly pretty generic. This is a brilliant near-parody (or at least a satire) of the stale genre. Never seen anything like it. The shootout using the music from Stroszek is the best scene I have seen in the cinemas this year. Undiluted genius right there.

Yeah, it's good to know Herzog still has the touch.

 

[Carmine Falcone]

I cannot wait for his next film, My son, my son what have ye done?. It looks awesome.

 

[Octoberist]

what kind of accent does Nic Cage have in this movie? It doesn't sound Southern, Cajun or New Orleans. Infact, it sounds like its a Chicago accent.

 

[dude stannis]

what kind of accent does Nic Cage have in this movie? It doesn't sound Southern, Cajun or New Orleans. Infact, it sounds like its a Chicago accent.

His normal one... until about half way.