Vengeance - Pfad der Vergeltung

Vengeance: A Love Story is based on the book Rape: A Love Story by Joyce Carol Oates, and it makes a difference. Cage plays John Dromoor – a Niagara Falls hero cop and Purple-Heart-awarded Desert Storm veteran, who takes a personal interest in a case when a young single mother is gang-raped. While the story doesn't look quite original and the vigilante cop theme isn't even an strange role for Cage, this movie is not just another run-of-the-mill vigilante movie. True, it focuses more on the vigilante part than the book (probably the reason for the change in titles), but this is a story about rape all the same, not vengeance.

As such, it's darker, slower but also better compared to similar movies. The story is well put together, though the aftermath and the effects of the lives of Teena and Bethie could have been a little more fleshed out, and similarly some of the other main characters, notably the judge and Don Johnson's lawyer character.

The acting is good. Cage is good, his usual, but slower, a bit more withdrawn. Don Johnson's performance as an unscrupulous lawyer oozes slime (good role-casting) and Talitha Bateman puts on a good performance as the daughter. Sadly, the final third falls quite flat, and I blame mostly the title. If you make a movie about vengeance, than put a bit more effort in it. While more realistic than Cage's usual wise- cracking one-liners, the movie builds up to a momentum that never really arrives, as he coldly and efficiently disposes of the perps. But overall, this is a decent movie, just don't expect a blood soaked, bullet-riddled vigilante movie.

Cage is an enjoyable actor to watch no matter what movie he's in. He plays the strong silent cop here and completely does the job. I've seen him play the recovering addict, the weasel, the flamboyant villain, done it all and each time he makes the roll believable. Don Johnson as usual is fantastic as well. I can't believe how old he is, looks amazing. He plays the high profile sleaze lawyer and he owns the role. All the actors in my opinion perform their roles to a T, unfortunately the movie itself is not great, but it could have been. The directing, or the story, maybe both come off week. The problem is there is no real tension as Cage too easily walks through and obtains vengeance. There should have been some level of stress projected to the viewer, a sense that he will be identified or might fail, that the criminals might escape or turn the tables on him, but alas the writer or director chose not to pursue that angle in the movie. It could have been much much better. That being said, no matter how bad a movie, I always enjoy Cage, he does a movie good.

I can see why this film did note score well as it has lots of fall downs, but as a film its worth watching. If you accept the fact its all been done before and it panders to both cage and Johnson's ego's you will enjoy it, the daughter and mother will make you smile, chuckle and cry, cry a lot. Cage is trying to stay relevant in films but is still acting like its 2000. Don Johnson, 1991, love them both as icons. Once you admit that this is a Nick Cage produced film and enjoy it as a story, it actually is a good film.

Enter, Nic Cage, been the butt of several jokes, but when you sit down and watch this movie, hes totally different, he does not feel weird and quirky, hes solid, like a rock. Empty almost and hating what hes doing but you can tell he needs to do it to sleep better. Not a wonderful film, but definitely worth a watch if you hate scumbags.

There is not much of anything original or unpredictable going on with this movie. It is pretty much your standard revenge flick, where the bad guys get off in court, and they are dealt with via vigilante justice.

There is one bright spot in the film, though. That is the performance of Talitha Bateman as the daughter. She acts in a relaxed, natural manner that is totally believable. In fact, she shows more acting ability than some of the other characters in the movie. But to be fair, there are a number of caricature roles in the movie that aren't very demanding of the actors (for example, the bad guys and their mother).

Bateman is young, so I hope she can find some better scripts than this in the future, and continues to grow as an actress. At this point, she reminds me of how Saoirse Ronan was at the same age. Ronan developed into a very good actress. I hope Bateman can do the same.