Cool News
Cage, Herzog, Iguanas--Capone loves creeping around with all the animals in BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS!!!
Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago here.
Holy sweet Jesus dipped in molasses. OK, I had no freakin' idea that this film was going to kick quite this much behind. But knock your ass into your shoes is exactly what happens when you take a familiar title, turn it into a franchise (this is no remake, re-imagining or retread of the Abel Ferrara BAD LIEUTENANT), and hand the reigns over to visionary Werner Herzog, who really has to go out of his way to make a bad movie these days. The biggest question mark from me wasn't whether Herzog could make something out of seemingly nothing, but whether Nicolas Cage was ready to put crappy movies behind him. I was actually a fan of Knowing and World Trade Center, but they weren't the slam-dunk vehicles Cage saw during his ADAPTATION-MATCHSTICK MEN-LORD OF WAR-THE WEATHER MAN streak. Now, during that time, Cage also made his biggest hit, NATIONAL TREASURE, a movie I loathe as much as its sequel. But clearly during this span of time, Cage was in sync with audiences and critics alike.
I'm not in any way implying that BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS is going to catch on as a popular hit--I really doubt it will--but it's fascinating filmmaking, and Cage is at his loopy, manic best as Terence McDonagh, a New Orleans cop who has trouble with gambling, drugs, sex and just general living. In the end, this film will confirm every horrible thing you've every thought about society and the way people treat each other, while also giving you three or four more reasons to hate the world and all who occupy it for the time being. It's also one of the funniest movies of the year. Maybe funny is the wrong word, but I know I was laughing a lot at some of the film's more deviant moments. And there's a roster of some of the most interesting actors working today, including a few I haven't seen in a while doing great work in this story about the bottom feeders who occupied New Orleans in the time shortly after Hurricane Katrina hit. I'm not sure that William Finkelstein's original screenplay is anything special, but Herzog and his crew of game actors breathe a rich and pungent breath into this B-movie tale of a cop investigating a mass murder that takes him deep into the drug culture of his city.
After an establishing scene in which McDonagh and his partner Stevie (Val Kilmer) rescue a prisoner from his jail cell filling up with Katrina flood waters, we see a clearly pain-riddled Cage (from a back injury he sustained during the rescue) popping pain meds, placing bets with his bookie (Brad Dourif), meeting his hooker girlfriend (Eva Mendes) to do coke, stealing drugs from the police evidence locker guarded by a cop (Michael Shannon) who owes him favors, and shaking down club goers for whatever cash and drugs they might have on them. The guy is clearly a model citizen, and barely takes in oxygen without trying to find an angle on something.
When a case involving an apartment filled with five dead members of a Senegalese immigrant family, McDonagh uses the case to get more deeply involved with a drug operation headed by a kingpin named Big Fate (rapper Xzibit). Cage's character does not give a shit about five dead immigrants, but he will make everyone around him believe that he does if it gets him access to more money and more drugs. Not surprisingly for a Werner Herzog film, the best moments in Bad Lieutenant have very little to do with the primary story. There are countless side trips we take that are endlessly interesting. Every scene at McDonagh's fathers house is fantastic, with Tom Bower as the father and Jennifer Coolidge as the rarely sober stepmother, who is actually a calming influence on her stepson. There are a couple interesting scenes involving Fairuza Balk as a highway patrol cop and old friend of McDonagh's who he meets investigating a car vs. alligator traffic accident. And then there's the already legendary iguana cam shot that I will not even attempt to explain, except to see that they are freakishly cool.
And good luck trying to get the image of Cage pinching off the oxygen supply to an old lady in an assisted-living home while calling her the C word, or holding a big-ass gun to the head of her nurse. The first thing that you must realize about BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS is that any impulse you have to laugh while watching it should be embraced. There is zero doubt in my mind that Cage is playing this for laughs even in the film's scariest moments. He's a frayed electric wire ready to shock anything that dares get too close, and watching his gradual self-destruction is an honor and a privilege. So here's the upshot: if you claim to be bored with formulaic Hollywood movies, this is a film custom made for you. Nothing about this movie is conventional, acceptable or easy to watch, but, man, is it insanely entertaining. I don't know who to heap the most praise upon--Herzog or Cage--so allow me to bow to them both and hope they make many more films together. They clearly belong together. And together, the two capture New Orleans so completely, you can actually smell the dank, moldy pockets that existed after Katrina. Just thinking about it gives me the vapors. Just go see this movie if you really need a cinematic experience that will take you way the hell out of your comfort zone and wake you the fuck up.
-- Capone
capone@aintitcoolmail.com
Follow Me On Twitter
-
+ Expand All
-
Man, loved his early works such as Vampires Kiss, Birdy and Moonstruck, Face-Off and, of course, Leaving Las Veags. Good to know Cage is back at his best. can't wait!
-
His brother distracted him & took his hand!!!
-
to all the people that got on the list and didn't show up.
-
i agree with you furiously.
-
Nov 20, 2009 8:44:06 AM CST
This sounds FUCKING AWESOME!!!!!!!
by isleptwithkathybatesandallthatigotwasthi
I'll be seeing this. No doubt Lockesbrokenleg will arrive soon to tell us all how terrible this movie looks. 3..2...1...
-
cause it didn´t look like a good herzog-movie, this thing really starts to catch my interest. hope it opens up soon in old germany.
-
he shines..welcome back
-
in Bringing Out the Dead when he grabs the radio from Sizemore and says "Xsssssss". Herzog is always greatness.
-
Shatner has truly passed the torch to him. Yeesh.
-
a smart editing job and all that craziness maybe amounted to 1 and a half minutes of screen time.
Glad to see Cage is finally living up to his promise from Fast Times at Ridgemont High... ;)
Oh, and Herzog is just a total living legend. From walking from Germany to France just to see a critic friend in hospital, to eating his own shoe, to getting gunned down during an interview, to years and years of chicken abuse, I hope this guy never dies. -
I've founded it distracting of late.
-
Damn. i didn't know this was anything special. So used to the craption adventure of the week. Damn.
-
bugnuts!!!
-
bugnuts!!!
-
This is some great cinema. Thank God I live in NYC.
-
When you girls get tired of kissing the ass of Jar Jatr Abrams and want to know that is a real filmmaker does, check Werner Herzog, and learn how it looks like when a really talented filmmaker who actually cares for what he creates and respects the audiences. Watch and learn, girls.
-
I like just about anything Cage does. I find him to be an interesting, compelling and entertaining actor. But, what's up with the uber-lean, moppy-haired look? It started with Ghost Rider and he's looked odd ever since. He used to look much healthier and got good haircuts. Maybe it's the stress from the whole 'my manager screwed me out of millions' thing. Dunno. BL sounds like a flick to check out tho'. Good to see Kilmer back.
-
a multi-picture deal for New Orleans movies in need of small-role parts.
-
and Sharon Stone, I think; it was some Blockbuster exclusive.
Cool nick by the way, great flick. -
a bizarre cast. Hadn't heard of that one. Maybe he can film Real Genius 2: The Big Easy and go for some kind of actor/setting record.
-
..my countr :((((
-
..countrY, yes
-
Cage's performance was extraordinary. The movie was both tremendous.Excellent movie making.
-
Ask the IRS.
-
Nov 22, 2009 4:11:45 PM CST
Re-re-release Nosferatu! in theaters - or theatres...
by limpdicksherlock
-
Nov 22, 2009 4:12:40 PM CST
Re-re-release Nosferatu! in theaters - or theatres...
by limpdicksherlock
-
Is that like the russian terrorist?
I'll still be checking for this to see how it compares to the original. -
Oh. My. God. That scene, the one with the oxygen tank lady and her nurse and the gun, can probably only be surpassed by PIG GUN this year. I was looking forward to this since it was announced. Val Kilmer is my favorite actor and I kinda wish he'd been in it more, but when he and Nic Cage were announced in a film together, directed by the harnesser of crazy himself Werner Herzog, I was hoping it could be something close to this. But for it to be this is just beyond expectations. And I totally agree that he and Cage need to work together more. When we're talking crazy, Cage is no Kinsky but he's as close as we're gonna get. I'm so glad I took the trip into Boston to see this and I'll hope against hope that it gets a wider release so I can see it again in the theater, but if not I'll just wait patiently for the DVD. I would really love to sit there with someone else who "gets it" over coffee and just rehash the whole movie. That almost never happens anymore.
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- SPACE 2099!! -- 98 total posts 98 posts
- OK. So Harrison Ford Isn't In Talks For The New BLADE RUNNER. But... -- 138 total posts 94 posts
- Check out Colin Farrell in these new pics from SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS -- 91 total posts 91 posts
- Nice And Splattery MACHETE KILLS Promo Art!! -- 87 total posts 85 posts
- Thursday Is Sweeps Day Eight!! Yack Here About OFFICE, ROCK, UP, WIPEOUT, PERSON, FINDER, MENTALIST, IDOL, BANG, ROB, ANATOMY, JERSEY & More!! -- 113 total posts 81 posts
- Kurtzman And Boborci Producing An Adaptation Of Anne Rice's Lestat Novel TALE OF THE BODY THIEF?? -- 338 total posts 74 posts
- In That New 300 Movie Spin-Off Thingy, Xerxes And Artemisia Will Be Played By... -- 77 total posts 66 posts
- Quint travels to Barsoom and visits the John Carter set!!! -- 65 total posts 65 posts
- WETTER HOTTER AMERICAN SUMMER? -- 61 total posts 59 posts
- Crom! Grant The Behind the Scenes Pics of the Day revenge! And if you do not listen, den to Hell witchu! -- 55 total posts 55 posts