Sbarre d'acciaio

Cage was a movie that I have wanted to see for many years. Since I was 10 I have seen it at the video shop with its brutal looking cover. Last night I took the plunge back into the world of low budget video violent nastys.

Cage, however must rank as one of the most original movies I have ever seen. Film Snobs and pretentious Surrealists would never see it. Drama Buffs would avoid it like the plague and it will probably never be screened anywhere but the cheapest cable channel. That, however is the shame of the film world. This film has movie moments equal to any film (save Tarkovsky), It has some moments of totally original drama, brutal violence, extreme surrealism and a performance by Lou Ferrigno that renders him completely unrecognisable from all his other films and from himself in particular.

How is a film like this made. Who knows, who really knows. The only thing that I could think of is that the director and writer were trying to say certain things for themselves through a film genre which is completely alien to those types of sentiments.

The plot is a relatively simple one to pitch. Two friends are seperated by gangsters and one is forced to fight in an underground human cockfighting type of tournament. The other friend penetrates the underground world of gangs and violence to rescue him. Sounds familiar doesnt it, SOUNDS VERY FAMILIAR in fact. However from conception to filming a miracle of independent vision has taken place. From the use of music and lighting, to the acting and story devices and emphasis given to different motives in certain scenes. Cage has all the conviction of independent filmaking woithout any of the posturing and pretensions that "Label" independent movies have.

If you have any interest in where films can go. Watch "Cage". It is a sad, sad thought that in this age of independent filmaking we have become less imginative in where we go with the filsm we make. The more inventive the editing techniques, the more sophisticated the lighting and post production, the less original and full on films are becoming.

For not being like any movie I've seen before and taking me completely by suprise. I give Cage a 10.

Underground Idealism has another champion.

This is much better that I thought would be. Whats more Lou Ferrigno is actually pretty good in this, not just at flexing his pecs but he puts in quite a touching performance as Billy. Billy saved his friends life and in that process took a gunshot wound to the head. Subsequantly he became mentally challenged and has the mind of a boy his friend who he saved now looks after Billy and they are the best of mates. The scene near the beginning set in the hospital as the two war heros recouperate is slightly on the homosexual side with so almost loving looks between the two guys, some holding of the hands and a vomitously sappy love song playing over the opening credits, this made me worry that the film would be cheesy than a truck load of stilton but it sorted itself out after that scene. These tournement based films were very common around this time with the likes of Van Damme breaking through to the likes of Don the Dragon, Billy Blanks and Gary Daniels also coming in further down the market. This is one of the better ones, with a good central relationship and also a good standard of fights although the direction from Lang Elliot is strictly routine. Anyway overall this is surprisingly worth a watch with Lou doing a surprisingly efficient acting job. Although why he sported such a dodgy hair cut throughout the 80's only Lou will know.

What seems just another banal action film is a story of friendship has depth, feeling, and yes, it still kicks ass...

The cage fights, occurring within an illegal underground club run by the Asian mafia known as Tongs, serves as a sporadic glimpse into what's to come while most of the film deals with two Vietnam Vets, Reb Brown as Scott and Lou Ferrigno as Billy, both shown in a Vietnam era prologue...

Billy saves Scott's life by grasping his hand in an ascending helicopter to keep him from falling - after being shot in the head. The loss of blood causes brain damage...

Cut fifteen years later, after a corny opening credit montage guided by music a lame song too weak for the upcoming testosterone-driven action... The reality is, Scott owns a bar and takes care of Billy like a mildly retarded son.

Although, the characters that really drive the film's plot are two shifty but likable Italian thugs played by Michael Dante and Mike Moroff who, cornered by an impending debt, stir up the pot in several ways, eventually tricking Ferrigo's gentle giant Billy to partake in cage fighting...

Both serving as not only plot catalysts but comic relief, going back and forth as if annoyed siblings...

Eventually, about an hour in, an enraged Scott seeks Billy, wielding a shotgun like only Reb Brown can, hunting down a gang the Italians used as a patsy...

And Brown has never been better, showing intensity in place of his usual macho cool while Ferrigno nails the role as a friendly man-child who, when pushed too far, all but turns green in that cage: where only the winner survives...

Meanwhile James Shigeta makes a terrific head villain, running the illegal bouts with an iron fist, shifting rules as they go as the always dependable character-actor Al Ruscio, as an Italian mobster, adds his own weight to elevate the already topnotch, underrated vehicle that is CAGE, starring two muscular studs held-up by the strength of top-notch surrounding performers.

I expected to get some laughs from a movie I thought would be like Schwarzeneggers Commando or something like that but I was amazed at what it actually is, a movie about a powerful friendship between two vietnam veterans (Lou Ferrigino and Reb Brown), one of them saved the other while getting shot in the head and now hence he has the mentality of a boy. Reb Brown being the one Lou saved he now repays his debt by taking care of him.

At the same time two low mobsters have lost money fighting on an illegal cage match and need a new fighter. They run into Brown and Ferrigino and later persuade Ferrigino to wrestle out in the cage because he doesn't understand what it actually means. Brown try to find him to save his one and only friend and it all ends in a terrific climax. Good action and some reasonable good acting.

Is somewhere between a six and a ten.

Lou Ferrigno at his BEST!