Director: Tom Gormican
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Pedro Pascal, Sharon Horgan, Ike Barinholtz
Have I Seen it Before: Never! I know, it’s been a busy year.
Did I Like It: There are—generally—three types of Nicolas Cage movies. The first, like Face/Off (1997) and The Rock (1996) are big, blustery action movies. The second, are comprised of a series of roles which were available, and could help the actor pay off some of his mounting bills over the last twenty years. I’m chiefly looking in your direction, Left Behind (2014)*. The third are those films where Cage can let go of the ego that has to be an occupational hazard of being a movie star, and in the process become his most interesting work.
This film manages to be about the second Cage, wrapped in the trappings of the first, and ultimately winds up being a pretty good example of the third type. At first, I thought a slight tilt away from the cartoonish action movie might have helped the whole thing land a little bit more effectively, but if that had been the order of the day, all we would have gotten for our trouble was a—rather pointed—rehash of Adaptation (2002)**. Who needed that?
And there’s another layer here that Cage had yet to explore in any of his other work. In letting his ego go specifically when it pertains to himself. It may not be my favorite film of the year (or even my favorite film to have Cage get enveloped in a meta narrative), but as long as his Left Behind days are over, I think we can all breathe a sigh of relief.
*A film I’m mortified to admit that morbid curiosity forced me to watch at one point (thankfully before I started writing these reviews), and even more horrified to learn that Kevin Sorbo is currently hard at work directing and starring in a sequel.
**I was not prepared for that film to be twenty years old. Am I old now?