Tag Archives: Nicolas Cage

Knowing (DVD)

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When I rented this movie, I only knew two things about it. First, the plot seemed similar to Nicolas Cage’s ‘Next’, a movie which also relies heavily on future predictions in order to prevent a forthcoming disaster.  Second, I know that Nicolas Cage owes me a solid movie. That’s right. The man owes me. I’ve sat through quite a few recent Nic Cage movies expecting to relive his former glory status from ‘The Rock’ or ‘Con Air’. Hell at this point I’d be satisfied with some ‘Gone in 60 seconds’ level of entertainment.  They say that knowing is half the battle. This may be true, but you can still lose the battle if all you have is knowing.

The premise of the film starts out very promising. It starts out in 1959 at an elementary school where they are placing items in a time capsule and are about to bury it for future generations. An odd looking young girl frantically scribbles down numeric sequences on a card to be placed in the capsule, while her classmates are all coloring pictures for their future counterparts. The girl’s writing is interrupted as her teacher grabs her writing and abruptly places it into the capsule.

Fast forward to the present day where Nicolas Cage’s son attends the same school and his class is about to have a ceremony where they open the time capsule from 50 years prior. Cage’s son happens to be the one who gets the card with the mysterious number sequence.  Later that night, Cage analyzes the numbers and realizes that they predict every major disaster since the time of the capsule up until the present day. Even more shocking is that they foretell of accidents that have not yet happened, but are predicted to occur.  As the predictions on the sheet begin to come true, Cage deciphers that the next prediction details the end of the world and that we must make preparations if we are to survive. That is about where the good stuff ends.

The movie suffers from a bit of an identity crisis. It doesn’t know whether it wants to be  a sci fi, horror, or thriller flick and it doesn’t have the charm to successfully combine all three. I won’t spoil the plot for those who want to watch this film, but everything really started unraveling for me at about the mid way point.  The plot had a lot of potential, just somewhere during the execution it all got muddled up.

The acting in this movie is definitely workable, although there really isn’t any focus on characters other than Nicolas Cage and his son. Cage is decent, although his role doesn’t seem to require a whole lot from him. The son is decent also, since he doesn’t have too much to do in this flick either. Chances are that this film won’t be in the top of Cage’s filmography.  It’s too bad the little girl couldn’t have put in a warning about the release dates for Cage’s latest movies.

Knowing is a sub par attempt at combining a bunch of different movie genres with lackluster results. By the end of the film, I didn’t really care what happened to anyone in the story. Maybe serious Nic Cage fans will love this movie, but I felt that there were so many problems that not even Cage’s likability could overcome them.  Overall, I would suggest this as a rental only if there really isnt anything else on the shelves.

Bangkok Dangerous (DVD)

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Typically, movies that deal with hitmen follow a simple formula. At some point in the beginning of the movie, the hitman talks about the rules or guidelines for being an effective hitman.  These usually contain at least one rule about not getting personal with anyone or something to that effect.  Next, the hitman either has a change of consciousness, falls in love, or both, which results in him breaking all of the aforementioned rules. As a result of breaking the rules, all hell breaks loose.

If you can think back to any Hitman movie, I can almost guarantee that it adheres to a similar structure to the one above.  Bangkok Dangerous is no different. Nicolas Cage plays a hitman who is contracted to perform a series of jobs in Bangkok.  As is often the case, these jobs are to be his last before moving on to a better life. Cage outlines his rules and his system for establishing himself and performing his job. He takes on a disposable assistant (read worthless scumbag who will do anything for money and who none will miss once Cage is done with him) and proceeds to plan for his upcoming jobs.  Somewhere along the way, Cage falls in love with a deaf pharmacy clerk and proceeds to rethink his profession.

Without giving away too much, this is the point where the cliches end. What develops from Cage’s relationship with this woman is not exactly your typical Hollywood “everything will work out in the end” premise and it is what gives Bangkok Dangerous a bit of originality in a redundant genre.  Nicolas Cage is a bit of an enigma. He is the extremely rare Oscar winning action hero, meaning not only can he throw a punch, he can also act.  He brings a bit of depth to this role that would otherwise have fallen flat in the hands of a lesser actor. This movie could have easily become a Van Damme or Seagal straight to the video bin vehicle, yet Cage’s acting ability manages to keep it afloat. This is crucial as there is relatively little dialogue in the movie and a majority of it is in the form of monologues from Cage’s character.

The direction by the Pang brothers is also excellent. Their style is reminiscent of early John Woo before he became overly obsessed with bullet time and slow motion leaps.  The film has a very raw and gritty feel to it  and it really helps convey the brooding hustle and bustle of a city like Bangkok.  The direction is clear and well paced without too much over reliance on MTV style replays and action shots that so many modern action films are plagued with.  This helps to bring some seriousness to the tone of the film while reinforcing the concepts of loneliness and isolation reiterated throughout the movie.

While the movie is not Cage’s best work by any means, it is definitely worth a rental. Fans of the genre will find something unique about this movie, while those simply looking for a good action fix will be satisfied as well.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets (Theaters)

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national_treasure_book_of_secretsNational Treasure: Book of Secrets was a excellent sequel to the original feature. Nicholas Cage is back as Benjamin Gates, and he along with sidekick Riley Poole embark on another crazy adventure to find a lost and forgotten treasure in the great U.S of A.

I can’t speak for everyone else, but I really can’t understand why this film got such poor reviews from the critics. We all knew that this movie was produced by Disney, so I was expecting a movie that was over the top but filled with entertainment and excitement. I got just that.

There were critics out there who complained that the film was too much like Indiana Jones. Why reinvent the wheel? People love a good treasure hunt and action film and National Treasure was a tribute to that success. Others complained about historical context of the movie. All I can say is What the F@#k? No really. Why are you watching a Disney film if your expecting a documentary. These movies are for entertainment purposes and not for historical relevancy.

Bottomline is, this movie was fun and enjoyable. It wasn’t anything to go crazy over, but it was hardly a waste of two hours. I would definitely recommend it to others who are looking for just plain old good entertainment.


Synopsis:

While Ben is presenting new information about John Wilkes Booth and the 18 pages missing from Booth’s diary, one man stands up and presents a missing page of John Wilkes Booth’s diary. Thomas Gates, Ben’s great-grandfather, is mentioned in the page. It shows that Ben’s great-grandfather could have been a person involved with Abraham Lincoln’s murder.