Bullet Points: Rage
Nicolas Cage needs money. He’s not at Wesley Snipes’ level or anything but Cage will apparently do anything to get a paycheck. At least that’s what I think and when I watch a new Cage movie I assume that it’s going to be him screaming, looking strange, and eventually killing all of the bad guys. That sort of happened here but in a different way than I expected. So prepare for a Bullet Points session filled with RAGE! From the soles of his shoes to the top of his ridiculous looking hair-piece!
The Gist: Paul Maguire (Nic Cage) is a legitimate businessman who has a past which could get him in trouble. He has been clean for years but when his daughter is kidnapped he falls back on the only thing he knows; getting payback. Now Maguire has his old crew back together and they are in deeper than they ever thought they would be.
The Cast: I only watched this movie for Nicolas Cage, let’s be honest. But there is nothing wrong with that. The man has done some insanely awesome action movies (The Rock, Con Air, Face/Off) and he has done decent work in the past with terrible scripts. I never expected this movie to be Oscar material or anything but it wasn’t shit either. Danny Glover was in it for a few minutes and in one scene just stood at the bottom of the stairs thinking to himself “I’m too old for this shit.” Peter Stormare surprisingly doesn’t play the Russian mobster but instead plays an Irish mobster. I don’t know why but that’s what they decided to do.
Oh shit…he’s got a leather jacket, better run!!!
The Villain: It’s hard to put this one on any single character. I don’t want to give away any details that might ruin the movie for you but let’s just say everyone is kind of an asshole in this one. Our “hero”, Nic Cage, is really just an old mobster thug who is now pissed cause someone took his daughter. In order to find her he has to go back to his old tricks and mess people up to get some information. A Russian dude who I’m sure you don’t know plays the main Russian leader named Chernov. He was actually a character that I kind of liked as he got a few minutes of expository dialog and it really helped.
Yes Swedish actor Peter Stomare plays an Irish mobster. Fun trivia, he also played a character that went by “Trashface” and once starred in a TV movie called Sperm Boat.
The Action: There were several good mob retaliation hits after Cage starts to piece together what happened with his daughter. If your thing is seeing Cage and his crew go nuts on some Russian mobsters and druggies; slashing, shooting, and torturing the hell out of some of them, then this is your movie. Cage “Cages out” on a few guys and his hair is incredibly insane. It looks like it was somehow glued to his head and slicked back using a very strong paste. He does seem very tired most of the time and he plays a perfect “on the edge” kinda character. I don’t know if it’s an act or if he is always just a bad day away from a psycho attack. I can picture a producer on set screaming “Somebody get Nic his pills!”
The old crew of guys really aren’t that old. This movie might work better starring a bunch of geezers like Pacino and De Niro.
Take it Home:
- Budget: Somehow this movie was made for $21 million. I don’t mean that in a good way, I would have expected it to have been made for much less.
- Favorite Quote: Danny Glover says “A rap sheet as long as my dick.” It was very disturbing.
- Finale: I won’t give any spoilers but I’ll say that the final 10 minutes or so were my least favorite.
- Even Better Quote: Cage’s pal: “How deep do you want this to go?” Cage: “How deep is Hell?”
- Sometimes you’re just lucky: During one of the shootouts, Cage dives behind a bathtub that just happens to be in a hallway. That seems pretty random but it’s kind of nice when people are shooting at you.
- Break out the leather: If you’re going to start messing guys up, you might as well do it in a leather jacket. It seems like every tough guy has one.
Rating: 3.25/5
