Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

Mind bender is the term that best describes William Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant. Nicolas Cage plays a manipulative, maniacal drug-loving cop who will stop at nothing to get a fix. Similar to Cage’s role as a devastated alcoholic in Leaving Las Vegas, Bad Lieutenant is on par, with several crazed scenes in which Cage is binged on crack and heroin, ranting, raving, and twitching like a common crack head.

Cage makes this movie worth seeing. His out of control antics, whether drug induced or otherwise, plays on so many emotions, you will find yourself laughing hysterically at things that really shouldn’t be funny. There is a constant jolting through the film from sympathy, to hate, to feelings of compassion for his character, which eat at you through the entire film.

The film picks up fast, delving right into Cage’s story, but slows quickly. Cage begins working a homicide case in a drug-induced haze, continuously manipulating others to get money and more drugs. The same similar events keep happening, and the film begins to drag.  

The movie seems like a perpetual cycle that is building towards an un-seeable end. Yet, the end, really the last 10 minutes of the film, make it worth the drudgery. The film manipulates the viewer the way Cage’s character manipulates everyone he comes in contact with.  

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