Being a cop has its perks, which Lieutenant Terence McDonah (played by Cage) takes precarious advantage of, progressively becoming a worse cop. Terence's love interest Frankie is played by Eva Mendes, who was also in Ghost Rider. I figured the two decided to party in New Orleans for a while after Ghost Rider, and with Saturn Pictures, went ahead and made a movie. The thing about playing characters who are on drugs is that it's more believable when the actors themselves are intoxicated.
But I don't know whether or not Cage does drugs. I'm not really interested in his personal life. Either way, this movie has some of his creepiest moments and freakiest freak-outs, as a strung out cop, doing everything he can to get his fix AND convict the criminals.
So, was this a good film? It's pretty over the top in a way that's not really funny. But it has Val Kilmer in it, if that means anything. More imporantly, you get to see Fairuza Balk in her pre-sex gear. On top of that, you get to watch people smoke crack. So the gratuity value of this film is pretty high. In some scenes he sounds like himself, and in others he sounds like a complete noire detective, and in others he seems like he's not even trying.
The pacing and direction is definitely more like an episode of ER than a cinematic feature film. I haven't seen the other works of Werner Herzog, but I can respect that he has his own style. There were also some really weird shots, like Terrance is trying to put the scene together in his drug-addled brain. I guess I don't mind when big time film makers have their artsy moments, treating their movie like some angsty music video.
Still, the story of the anti-hero with no redeemable characteristics is pretty hard to invest in. And it's not like Lord of War, in which it really matters whether or not our protagonist dies or retires. In Bad Lietenant, all the other characters are either cops or criminals. I don't know how, but I did end up feeling stressed and worried for Terrance. Maybe it's just because I like Nicolas Cage. Either way, Bad Lieutant was a pretty dark, unhappy experience.
- Raising Arizona
- Leaving Las Vegas
- Red Rock West
- Adaptation
- Birdy
- Wild at Heart
- Joe
- Guarding Tess
- Dog Eat Dog
- Color Out of Space
- Mom and Dad
- Peggy Sue Got Married
- Zandalee
- City of Angels
- Bangkok Dangerous
- Drive Angry
- Lord of War
- Gone in 60 Seconds
- Matchstick Men
- Vampire's Kiss
- Con Air
- Face/Off
- The Boy in Blue
- Honeymoon in Vegas
- Amos and Andrew
- Moonstruck
- The Sorcerer's Apprentice
- Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
- Bringing Out the Dead
- The Family Man
- Knowing
- It Could Happen to You
- 8mm
- Looking Glass
- Between Worlds
- Left Behind
- Ghost Rider
- The Humanity Bureau
- Next
- The Weather Man
- 211
- The Croods
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