Vengeance

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.

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.

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.

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.

This movie showed great potential in the very beginning. There were good characters and great plot development. Then it just fell flat. I guess the vengeance was supposed to be due to the connection between the detective and the victim, but I never felt any connection between them. The actual vengeance was poorly developed and the ending was pretty lame. There are better movies to watch.