Bad Lieutenant : Escale à la Nouvelle-Orléans

Bad Lieutenant, The: Port of Call: New Orleans (2009)

**** (out of 4)

When it was announced that Werner Herzog would be remaking Abel Ferrara's 1992 film there was all sort of outrage with fans asking how anyone could remake a film as far "out there" as that. I think most of these complaints were from people who didn't know Herzog because if you did know his work you'd know he wouldn't just simply remake something. As was expected, this version has very little to nothing to do with the 1992 film so people can walk into this expecting something original. The film follows a simple storyline of a Lieutenant (Nicolas Cage) who is investigating the execution deaths of five people, including kids. He begins cracking down on known drug dealers in the area but he's also doing battle with his prostitute girlfriend (Eva Mendes) as well as his drug addiction to cocaine and heroine that is getting bigger by the hour. It's funny but the screenplay to this film probably would have fallen through the cracks had someone like Herzog not been behind the camera. That's not to say this is a bad screenplay but the entire investigation and all the side plots are pretty basic but it's thanks to Herzog's vision and Cage's performance that this film will go down as the wacky, over the top ride that it is. I didn't find the film flawless like some as a good ten minutes could have been cut out of the second act but the film is still very impressive. The important thing to remember going into the film is that you're about to see a very dark comedy so I guess one could call this the greatest comedy ever made about a drug-addict cop. Cage is what makes the movie because his performance here will rank as one of the greatest of his career. I think it has become easy to make fun of Cage and throw cheap insults at him but it's important to remember that when he's on fire he usually can't be touched by anyone and that's certainly the case here. Is he over the top? Sure but he's suppose to be. His performance is so dead on that you can help but look at him and feel that you're really seeing someone going through a major addiction. Cage's entire body seems to change shape throughout the movie as he grows more and more sick. The way Cage laughs at someone being called "G" is just priceless as is a terrific scene between he and an iguana. The supporting cast is very impressive as well with Mendes turning in a fine performance as the drugged out hooker, Val Kilmer as a psycho cop, Fairuza Balk as another cop and the always reliable Brad Dourif as a bookie. Herzog's vision is all over this thing and I really loved the overall look of the movie. I loved how the start of the film has the camera constantly moving, which to me was to imply the state that Cage's character was in with all the drugs. The film is a dark comedy and for the most part both Herzog and Cage go full steam to bring out the laughs and this includes a hilarious sequence with a couple old ladies with one on oxygen and others with Cage seeing things that aren't really there. The terrific cinematography and nice music score also add a great deal as do the worn down streets from the post Katrina days. This certainly isn't among the director's greatest works but it's still something very fresh and original and it really stands out compared to the other type of films being released today.

Nic Cage is a living, breathing cartoon character, both as a person and as an actor, and the best filmmakers seem to grasp intuitively that the best way to have Nic in a movie--the only way, really--is to first be sure they've got for him an appropriately comical, ironic, melodramatic or surreal story. This one happens to be all four, to a serious degree. It also features compelling and offbeat relationships and unexpected, wild action, all of it slyly hypnotic and even gripping.

It'd be fair to describe this film as a tense crime drama that's regularly relieved by comical gags if it weren't for the fact that the perfectly timed humorous beats are so damn hysterical--and so weird. The outrageously absurd, profoundly wacky moments so thoroughly overwhelm the more somber, dark and disturbing moments--not in quantity but in sublime intensity--that they thoroughly dislodge us from any dependable emotional or psychological perch and it's hard to know with any confidence from instant to instant what we're expected to feel or think, which, apparently, is very much intentional. We're being toyed with, and not coyly but blatantly, maybe even wickedly.

The director, Werner Herzog, is a connoisseur of contradiction and paradox as he's masterfully demonstrated in many of his films, such as the bleakly absurd "Aguirre, the Wrath of God," or the incredibly preposterous "Fitzcarraldo," or the often delightfully campy "Nosferatu the Vampyre" where subtle humor is so effectively collided against genuinely poignant drama. But this one's on a whole different level, and it's entirely the fault of Nic Cage and his nearly demented, turbocharged performance as an increasingly crazed, spiraling out of control, drug addicted crooked cop.

As his character's condition deteriorates and his affliction and corruption possess him to the core not only does Nic begin to distort his appearance and posture to match his deepening pathology but his voice as well becomes increasingly warped as it grows more high pitched and nasal, as though the mounting stress is compressing him like a squeeze toy. It's beyond silly but it somehow works, at least on the level of his character's distorted, perverted perspective.

Often the soundtrack is emphatically offbeat, quirky and disruptive, working in counterpoint to the pace and tone of the unfolding action. But the musical score might then quickly shift to more traditional rhythms more in sync with the apparent mood of the scene, which only renders those moments all the more unsettling. It's a very subversive technique inciting a creeping, crawling uncertainty deep within the subconscious, at a primal level; a sincerely surreal experience punctuated so ridiculously, so blatantly by the hallucinogenic appearances of those damn freaky iguanas. So freaky...

It's disorienting--in the best way--to be so constantly jerked, jolted and yanked around by a movie, especially when it's all being done so well, so confidently. Werner Herzog has crafted a sincerely bizarre, wild ride; a rare and special cinematic experience that will appeal to--and thrill--aficionados of superior, if idiosyncratic storytelling. Very much recommended above all else for its uniquely unorthodox, unhinged vibe.

Many will look at this and will think that it is an action thriller about a cop trying to solve the murders of 5 people in New Orleans and that is a basic idea of what the film is about. 'Trying' is right word to use; Nicolas Cage's characters is deeply flawed and is taking drugs to ease his back pain, which he got for saving a prisoner in a flooded prison. He has no interest in bringing the people responsible to justice.

It is difficult to describe what happens in the film because it is so different from other films that I have seen. If you have seen Werner Herzog's other films then you will like this maybe not as much as some of his other films but there is a lot to like. Nicolas Cage gives a fantastic performance and is clearly back on form after the likes of Next, National Treasure and The Wicker Man. The rest of the cast also do a good job but the focus is on Cage. The chosen location of New Orleans suits the film well and the cinematographer does a good job showing it. The script writer must also be credited for providing the film with interesting pieces of dialogue even though its difficult to tell what was improvised and what was not.

This film is not for everyone though since the trailer shows it as a more of an crime thriller than a drama. If you are not a fan of art house films or films that have an offbeat sense of humor then you might not enjoy it as much as those who do. Those who watch this film and liked it will be able to find plenty of things about the film that represent something else. There is clearly more to this film than what is happening on the surface.

If you do choose to watch this film then go in with an open mind as there is a lot to like but I can't guarantee that it will be for everyone.

I just watched this at London Film Festival & went in expecting to hate it as I loved the original. But I have to say, the film is excellent, certainly Cage's best film & best performance since Leaving Las Vegas. Herzog has done a brilliant job & the film stands on it's own, apart from the Ferrara film. I won't spoil bits by mentioning them, but the film has several stand-out memorable scenes worth the price of admission alone. Herzog has always said that training for making films is 'life' not a stuffy film studies class etc. If you're familiar with his work or sensibilities, you'll get even more insight into how cool this guy is after watching this film. I look fwd to watching it again when it releases and getting the DVD!!

This movie is filled with humor and turns, it's jazzy and entertaining but not that similar to Abel Ferrara's 1992 story, in spite of the title. It features a wonderful and very much involved performance from Nicholas Cage, a lot of very black humor and gets to develop a strong pessimism. The story is appropriately set in New Orleans (during the Hurricane Katrina's aftermath) and mainly shows what occurs to good people when bad people prosper. Nicholas Cage aside, Val Kilmer doesn't probably manages to do much, but Mendes and Dourif deliver convincing performances. Abel Ferrara's "Bad Lieutenant" was a dirty depiction of a strongly damaged detective (played by Harvey Keitel), where, leaving from the illusions of a drug-induced cop, ended up involving a lot of Catholic guilt. Here there's more action and humor than that stuff, not that the movie is shallow but probably it's just a bit more unpretentious.