(2009)
Dir: Werner Herzog
Is there a Nicolas Cage film which isn’t entertaining? Granted, I haven’t seen the 2006 remake of The Wicker Man, but the Jack side of this partnership assures me that despite the shitty film, The Cage is still good fun.
Fortunately, The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans isn’t a shitty film, but a rather great one, made even better by the wildly hypnotic central performance from the man himself.
As police officer Terrence McDonagh, Cage is in his element. After developing a drug addiction following a work related injury in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, everything else (including law enforcement) takes a backseat to McDonagh’s efforts to score drugs and make money. In just one of many fantastic scenes featuring this loveable bastard, McDonagh accosts two young lovers as they come out of an affluent nightclub, not only shaking them down for drugs, but then proceeding to have sex with the young woman at gunpoint, whilst forcing her beau to watch. This is only topped by his visit to an old people’s home. ‘Nuff said.
Cage and director Werner Herzog are a match made in psycho heaven. Both are batshit crazy and it fills every inch of The Bad Lieutenant. Alligators and iguanas appear on shaky handheld cameras, viewing these insane events, as McDonagh also tries to solve the gruesome murder of an unfortunate Senegalese family. Some films just capture the effects of mind-fucking drugs wonderfully. Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream did it, Michael Winterbottom’s 24 Hour Party People did it, and now Werner Herzog’s powder-soaked police brain-scrambler has done it.
It is almost an example of one man’s power to make a film great. No offence to the other players, such as Val Kilmer and Eva Mendes as McDonagh’s partner and girlfriend respectively, but this is the Nicolas Cage show. He is everything and everywhere. Together with the excellent Kick Ass, he is having a hell of a run.
**** / *****
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