Uma História de Vingança

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.

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 Cage is good, his usual, but slower, a bit more withdrawn.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 his usual self. Not as cringy as lately, actually tolerable. The movie could have been good, but it is not. I suspect some other reviewers to be in the movie industry...or they just haven't seen that many movies yet. I give it 4 stars because the young girl is really good and the beautiful mother could have been edited to be excellent....BUT, this movie is the prime example of how NOT to edit a movie. Some of the scenes are waaay to long and downright unnecessary. But some of the cuts are so long (the mother in the hospital scene with cage) that it makes the actors look like overacting imbeciles. In one scene the beautiful mother goes through 5-6 moods/expressions. From scarred, confused, elated, relieved to sad and tormented relieved again...in the same cut. And at the end, the dialogue follows the two actors by way to rapid cutting. I have never thought about editing before in my life...but this opened my eyes to the importance of that job. Got through about an hour, and just had to quit. I will think long and hard before I rent another Cage movie.

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.

Acting is very good. Nicolas though is severely underused. Wasted even. The movie starts off very promising, like a space rocket taking off. The plot advances and just when you expect the movie to jump into high gear it only sputters, fizzles, and rapidly loses altitude. Finally showing to be a dud with a script that simply goes nowhere. Feels like a made for TV cop show movie. The failing is not the actors. They were all very good. The script is to blame.

If you have time to kill with nothing else to watch then OK. Watch it for the acting. Otherwise, pass.