A Ilha

When I see that Nicolas Cage appears in the cast of a movie I wonder what it's going to be this time. Nicolas Cage is a good actor, everybody knows him and he hasn't to prove anything anymore, but the truth is that he accepts a lot of roles in bad movies. I don't know any actor that played in really good movies and also real stinkers so it's always a guess what it will be the next time. Grand Isle is interesting, a story with some suspense and decent acting from the whole cast. It all begins promising and that remains like that for most of the movie but towards the end it feels a bit unfinished and stupid. But it's not the worst movie with Nicolas Cage, so that's already something.

I'm a fan of neo-noir thrillers, and since the trailer sold me, I decided to give this B-grade film a chance. What started off surprisingly interesting and suspenseful, turned bland after the fist half.

Novice director Stephen S. Campanelli was great behind the camera, and ok directing his cast. But the screenplay by amateur writers Iver William Jallah and Rich Ronat, needed a seasoned writer to look it over and make some major edits. I get this is a low budget B-grade film, but what started off so good, could've easily ended just as good or even great. Sadly, once it sets up its naughty and wild formulaic plot, it stops delivering.

Casting was decent with Kelsey Grammer, KaDee Strickland and the lovely Zulay Henao, but as a long-time fan of Cage's, I wanted more "Cage-iness". Cinematography and production sets were on point, as was the score.

For a B-grade low budget film, I've seen much worse, and still enjoyed the most part of the film. It's a generous 7/10 from me.

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This film unravelled a story, without any twists or turns, which means that everything the viewer anticipates to happen, happens. Unfortunately, in a sad and sinister way, I had hoped this film was based on some true events which in turn would have made this movie twice as entertaining, or not half as bad as the final product. The actors all played their part well, Nicholas Cage a little slow minded but a role which suits him. Kadee Strickland a seductive wife of Nicolas Cage and Luke Benward as a main suspect in a murder case, that of which is the narrative of the story. All in all a long one and half hours.

The plot is like titillating a man's fantasy. A guy goes to repair some fence in an isolated house on Grand Isle. He is sex deprived for six months due to his wife's post delivery depression. In the bungalow, he meets a couple, a hot lady n her alcoholic impotent husband. The lady seduces the guy,......something happens but I dont want to spoil, he has sex with her but we dont get to c any nudity except for her glutes for few secs.

The plot is heavily lifted from the 90s erotic thrillers n Out of Time (2003). The budget is low n the space is confined. Ther is some hand held cam stuff n unnecessary darkly lit scenes. What can I say about our Nic. This time he is sporting his long locks like the one from Con Air but those muscles r missing. 2019 has been very busy for him.

Old pal Nic Cage rarely disappoints me - I don't need much from him, but some movies he just cannot save with his usual cage-ing around, if I might put it so. "Grand Isle" was particularly disappointing, because what originally intrigued me was the trailer. It turned out it's just one of those cases where the trailer is superior to the movie.

So we got Nicolas Cage as the top-billed star with his character actually being somewhere between the lead and supporting role, we also got 10 minutes of an unimpressive but more than okay Kelsey Grammer, also an average KaDee Strickland as the seductive wife of Nicolas Cage & Luke Benward as the lead character. All of them did an arguably decent job, for the bad things I mostly blame the script. All of the characters are text-book type and just plainly uninspiring, with only Nic Cage channeling a bit of that awesome Cage energy into his character (as he does with any character nowadays). The script, yes, the script is a the major flaw of "Grand Isle". If the visual & technical side of it is fine, average, sure, but fine, then the writing is what truly makes this a cheap B thriller. I'm not even sure if the script was too full of stuff of too void of it - on the surface there are many themes involved, but they're poorly stitched together, nothing surprises, nothing really has an impact & the pacing is, at times, extremely dragging. Boredom is a risk you have to be willing to take if you're watching "Grand Isle".

You know, there's not a whole lot I can say or even want to say about "Grand Isle" - It's an underwhelming, unfocused and unoriginal piece of filmmaking, the only redeeming value is bits and pieces of that Cage I really like, but that might just me. Bottom point being - this goes out as a recommendation to only the most hardcore Nic Cage fans. Otherwise don't torture yourself. My rating: 4/10