Film-o-Rama Review by August Meyer
Never before in my life have I been blown away in the way I was after watching "The Bad Lieutenant". Every single aspect of this movie, although there are definitely places in which it could have been improved, adds to the gritty tension and moral disputes presented by the plot. Those of you who know me may know that I have never been partial to Nicolas Cage. As I have mentioned before in my review of "Kick Ass", his hair has always been a point of great disdain for me and my viewpoints on leading actors. Now, all of these previous notions have been thrown out the window, and replaced with a great respect for this man to whom we can only refer as a true artist.
The power brought by Cage in his performance is uncanny. Depicting the immoral life and times of a "crooked" cop in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, I really can't compare what he brings to the screen with any other performance I have seen in recent years. Throughout the film we see him extorting drugs from criminals, gaining sexual favors from various women of questionable moral values, and rubbing elbows with suspects in murder investigations. And for the better part of the film, there is absolutely no development in the field of improved character or lifestyle choices. It's not until the stunning and indescribable conclusion that we see that there HAS been change in Cage's character's life. And it could not have been delivered in a better way. This is Nicolas Cage's best performance, on any medium...ever. Period.
It is not just the leading man that brings the punch to this stunner of a movie. Eva Mendes plays an upscale "lady of the night", who happens to be the girlfriend of Cage's crooked cop character. The two mesh well, each articulating a different emotional struggle in ways that do more than move the audience.
I hate to bring academics to this review, but in this case, I believe it is a must. In every science experiment one might execute in a classroom, there must always be a "control", a substance or object used to be relative and compared to the results of the variable substances in the experiment. Val Kilmer IS this control. He is just as, if not more corrupt as Cage. As a brilliant example, the film opens with him and Cage placing bets on how long a drowning man in the flooded basement of the police station, in the direct aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, will last. Although Cage eventually dives in and saves the man, Kilmer is scoffing at the sidelines of this situation not comprehending what could drive someone to help a man with such a low social status. Kilmer's behavior is a lasting example of the kind of person Cage used to be at the end of the film.
This is by far one of the best, and most powerful movies I have seen in recent years, but
it is not without its flaws. The cinematography can be a little hard to follow at times, where it dances around a variety of themes. From tracking shots to wide angled scenery shots and odd viewpoint shots, it gets a little hard to follow. Additionally, the lesser supporting cast is less than average in a few instances. Examples of this are Xzibit's drug pushing kingpin, and Vondie Curtis-Hall's bad-mouthed police chief. These characters are simply "types", and are a sharp contrast to the otherwise developed characters in the rest of the movie.
Werner Herzog directs the film. Although he mostly concerns himself with German-language films and plays, he occasionally branches out to the Western World. The last examples of that being the superb "Rescue Dawn", and the critically hailed, "Grizzly Man". While watching "The Bad Lieutenant", one aura I took away was the feel of it being a hint of a Darren Aronofsky film, most notably, "The Wrestler", because of the prolonged following shots through dark corridors and mangy streets the director takes the viewer through. This is not to say that Herzog rips anything at all of Aronofsky, but just that an influence is easily detected.
The score is, as "The Dude" from "The Big Lebowski" would put it..."what really ties the room together". The screeching cellos and violins throughout never leave the screen, or your consciousness. The music in the film, I would say, is comparable to that of "No Country For Old Men", with its writhing intensity. Hearing such a high quality soundtrack leaves me wishing more films nowadays would incorporate the same kind of thing. But, you can't get everything you want.
Although "The Bad Lieutenant" did not make much of a splash in the box office, it did more than that in my heart. It is the first film I have ever felt a strong emotional relation to, and will stick with me for a long time to come. I'm not ashamed to say that by the time the credits rolled, an unnoticed tear or two was making its way down my cheek. This criminally low-grossing movie deserves every bit of your respect and attention, and is more than well worth it.
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