User reviews

Right, well I had very little expectations to this 2019 movie from writer John Stuart Newman and director Shawn Ku. Why? Well, it is a Nicholas Cage movie, need I say more? I can't claim to be a fan of his in any way. Sure, he puts on the occasional good movie, but they are few and far apart.

Regardless, I had the chance to watch "A Score to Settle", so I sat down to watch it, as I tend to watch movies that I haven't already seen before.

And glad that I did, because this movie was definitely one of Nicholas Cage's better performances, and a movie where you actually get to see him having acting talents. And while the movie itself was sort of mediocre, Cage actually managed to lift it up and out of mediocrity with his impressive performance.

The storyline in "A Score to Settle" definitely had potential. Sure, it didn't offer much of anything new to the genre, but it was still enjoyable enough for what it turned out to be.

Aside from Nicholas Cage, the movie has some nice performances by the likes of Benjamin Bratt, Noah Le Gros and Karolina Wydra. I can't claim to be familiar with neither Noah Le Gros or Karolina Wydra, but they definitely performed well in this movie.

"A Score to Settle" is an adequate movie if you have nothing more pressing on your to-watch-list. While it wasn't outstanding, it was still good enough for a single viewing.

My rating of "A Score to Settle" would have been a very mediocre five out of ten, given the flatlining storyline, but Nicolas Cage's performance lifted the movie up a notch, who knew!?

Nicolas Cage is still a great actor. just gotta find the right movie to act in.

"A Score to Settle" is another disappointing film with Nicolas Cage in the lead role. However, as a fan of this actor, I dare to say that he has a good performance. But the depressing story has a weak plot point and the direction and the screenplay are not in a good pace. Instead of a thriller or an action film, the viewer sees a boring and heavy drama with deceptive conclusion. Nicolas Cage needs to find better stories and screenplays. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

People tend to jump on the hate train too quickly that they fail to see that this movie had great potential. If only they had a director that knows what he is doing, plus with the budget they had. This is not a bad movie BUT there were some pretty bad moments that pretty much ruined it. This is not an action film but is centered around the Nick's character. So dont expect guns-blazing-mindless-action. Its really not that bad.

Film tries to be deep and clever with a "plot twist" that anyone with eyes sees coming from a mile away. Cliches of course abound, so expect to see all the generic quotes and tropes you've seen/ heard before. The only twist being that this film blurs the genres of films it steals it's quotes from.

All of this said is it a terrible film? No. It's ok. Just about. Watchable if you're not really paying attention.

Also, whatever you do, don't question the timelines, e.g. how a young adult can go to jail for 19 years but come out an old man.

Anyway, the terrible cliches, inconsistencies in timelines (forcibly injected so the characters fit the proper cliches), and a pretty average script let this film down.

5/10

CF

For starters, all the 1's are just bone-head amateur reviews. This film - all things considered, is a solid 7/10, and here's why:

It's clearly a low budget B-grade film. You have a novice director (only his 2nd full length feature film, other 4 are shorts and TV films), Shawn Ku, who did a fairly decent job (remember, for a novice filmmaker) with the camera, but needed work on directing his cast (except Cage, who was awesome on his own). Then you have a great (conceptual) story, that was written by a totally green newbie writer, John Stuart Newman, in his 2nd full length feature film. Yes there were some plot issues, and yes the slow pacing was atrocious that the 103 min length felt ridiculously long. But nevertheless, Nicolas Cage kept this film afloat, with some help from Benjamin Bratt (who certainly needed better direction in the beginning).

If this film was properly edited and the pacing sped up 1.5x, it would have been an entirely different (much better) viewing experience. The score was decent and the cinematography on point. It's a shame the producers didn't decide to edit this better, because Cage deserved better for his performance. Nevertheless, rating this film based on its own production merits and value, it's a solid 7/10 from me. I still enjoyed it, but wanted more.

The story is quite good, though I would have liked it more if there was no twist in the middle. The pace could be a little faster, but it is an adequately entertaining film.

DON'T WATCH! Idk how anyone can say this movie is any good. A pointless complete waste of time like the past several movies of his this year adnd last year. Hollywood doesn't seem to know to make good movies or is this part of some kind of conspiracy to make people insane?! It don't make sense!

I don't care what anyone says, I am a big Nicolas Cage fan. I liked the movie. I think it's worth the watch. He still got the touch. Good for him

I expected a phoned in performance from Cafe but he really gave a great performance. A good story that kept my attention. Cage had some great dialogue in this and I think in anyone else hands it wouldn't have worked. It may have been a straight to blu ray movie but so much better than most of his recent low budget efforts. Great character and script. I liked the RoboCop reference in the dialogue. The 'Dragon' character was poor acting though and his scenes were so over acted it made Cage seem reserved ha ha.

A surprising enjoyable film.

This is right up there with the rest of the late career choices of Nicholas Cage. The first hour is pointless wallpaper. When the action eventually does kick in, it is as predictable as sunrise. Cage takes the money for all these turkeys he makes. Time for me to pass on his future efforts if this is all we can expect from a once fine actor. Don't waste your time on this one

Please please cage save some dignity and retire from cheese movies.wait for a decent role at least.dam cheese lover

Quite a mediocre watch that will still entertain if you have nothing better to do or are a cage fan

Awful movie that is so boring and contrived. Also the dialogue is dubbed over.

Avoid.

This is a good movie with a surprise in it. If you like Cage just see it.

Honestly Nicolas cage was the only good thing in the movie .... Mohamed ( jimmy ) was the worst part in the movie no acting no nothing

I won't reveal anything, but the movie did keep my attention (and I tend to be a little restless). A few things didn't make sense until the end...so hang in there and watch the whole thing before you pass judgement. It's a bit of a dark gritty movie - so be prepared for some shootem' up gory stuff. But if that doesn't bother you, it's fine. I liked Nicolas Cage - he's very versatile and believable.

It seems to me that the old stars strives to keep up with the new ones, and nicholas cage, in my opinion downspiraling lately, doesnt deliver in here either. its the story about a jailbird thats full of revenge, that gets his wings back and becomes a free bird , searcing for the crooks that made him go to prison years ago. its also a story about father and son, and the harshness and hardships that caracterizes a relationship that has been absent due to a life in prison. he wants to try by bearing and sharing what he has, but he is hard to feel sympathy for.

the acting are plain and simple, so are the story also, told through flashbacks on the main carachter.the filmography are not overwhelmingly made, and the editor are at times on overdrive with fast shifting camera angles etc.

what i miss from mr cage is the smile, i think a good comedy like family man could wake up his fans, allthough he is not totally carried away by this flick. the grumpy old man thinks this is a filler for the title collector and no more than that.just a recommend

Decided to watch this because I'm a fan of Nicholas Cage. Glad I did, had a good surprise in the story and even though I was expecting it to be cheesy acting it wasn't. Really good performances by the cast.

Nic Cage is doing his best, even though his not giving his all in this movie maybe because of the story, or the choices of actors and actresses, but still Nicky is my favorite actor, keep up the good work.

I use to like Nicolas cage but once you have seen one of his movies you have seen all of his movies. Think It is time for him to hang up the boots in acting and retire