2009 sequel to Breakin' 2: Electric BoogalooRating: 16/20
Plot: Terence McDonagh, a cop in New Orleans, gets a promotion, a good thing since this movie couldn't have Lieutenant in the title without it. But Terence starts to turn bad, another good thing since Bad is also in the title. With drugs, stolen paraphernalia, more drugs, gambling, drugs, and lizards, McDonagh beings to lose it. Then he completely loses it, stumbling to find a way to end a downward spiral.
I had my doubts about this one, especially since Herzog's other venture into the mainstream (Rescue Dawn) kind of stunk. But Werner works his voodoo magic here, throwing us something contemporary and oft-mainstream but with a tasty helping of the wonderfully bizarre. There is one scene in particular that I can say is unequivocally the best thing I have ever seen in my life and quite possibly the best scene in the history of film. No, I'm not exaggerating. It's a scene I immediately rewound to watch a second time, watched several more times while the dvd was still in my possession, and have Youtubed at least two times since returning the dvd. It's the type of scene that you think about a couple days after watching the movie and start having one of those religious experiences where you can't stop giggling and when somebody interrupts the religious experience with a stupid question, you snap at him and tell him that if he pulls that crap again, you'll stab him right in the neck. I wish I could tell you more about the scene, but telling you more about the scene would spoil it. Of course, it's impossible to write about this movie without talking about the enigmatic genius of Nicolas Cage, one of America's greatest living actors. Also unequivocally, I can say that this is one of the best acting performances of the decade. Cage brings the weird and he brings it hard, a perfect fit for Herzog's skewed visions, much much closer to a sort of neo-Kinski than to National Treasure's Ben Gates. There aren't too many actors, and maybe not a single other actor, who could have played unhinged and out-of-control so well, and I don't think there are many actors who could have pulled off the comic aspects of the character that are hidden below the surface of this drama. His performance is so physical. He contorts his body (the character has back problems), moves like a madman, and says so much his eyes in this movie, another quality that reminds me of Klaus Kinski. I can't say enough about Cage's performance here, but I can say (unequivocally) that I hope he's in another Herzog movie before he starts filming Ghostrider 3. Even without an appearance of Harvey Keitel's little Harvey and a bunch of over-the-top Christian symbolism, this is easily the better Bad Lieutenant movie. Don't miss it!
7 comments:
When I was watching this I thought "wow Werner does CSI or L & O, or NCSI, or etc..." a police procedural gone whacky. All the interviews etc. Then I read that all the scriptwriter had done was cop shows. You know where the interviewee just spills it all "well I never saw much of my pa, he drove freight, used to hit on my ma. Has a mean cousin down in Baton Rouge, vietnam vet" you know, those interviewees that move the whole back story. I love how the movie starts with his heroic gesture and immediately shows how that was his undoing. Immediately. Best scene? Dancing Soul? Old lady oxygen deprevation? I need to see this again. I got nice and baked and was in awe of the OTT-ness.
Yes, the dancing soul...
Also loved the scene where he keeps threatening his "partners" with that "to the break of dawn" line.
I liked this movie....it was decent, but it was more a 14 than a 17.
I am not as enamored with Cage as you are, and find his acting here to be way over the top. Its just so out of context that there are many scenes where its impossible to believe that other people are actually interacting with him. Its too cartoony.
I was surprised I liked this as much as I did. The iguana scene? It was worth the price of admission. (Of course I only paid a dollar to see this anyway.)
It's probably a 16. Yeah, I think I'll change it now that Nic Cage has probably already seen the 17 and will not likely come back.
I believe his performance was intended to be comic, and the over-the-topness was definitely part of the humor. How dare you not fully appreciate the genius of Nicolas Cage!
It figures that the screenwriter did cop shows, because when it isn't being very bizarre or explicitly kinky, this often felt like a TV cop show, to me. Cage does bring the weird, but he is so over-the-top, unlikeable, and creepy that I had a hard time pulling for him. Halfway through the film I asked myself if I would care one bit if he met his inevitable end, and I wouldn't. Herzog seems to be channeling his inner-"Blue Velvet" Lynch at many points, but Aligator-cam and Iguana-cam, and depraved parking-lot sex were more off-puting than interesting. I did like many things about this and the ending surpised me, but I still didn't find Cage or the material very compelling. What I liked most may have been something I was making up; that going down the path of good or evil is often just a result of a little good or bad luck. A 14.
Mandy and I watched this last night.
Re-reading this entry, I wondered which was the greatest part to you. If you meant the iguanas, dancing soul and more iguanas, lucky crack pipe, pulling guns on old ladies, "I don't know the dog's name", or any other part of it.
16/20
Dancing soul! That unexpected breakdancing, Cage's laughter, and that insane Sonny Terry harmonica music...that's art, mo-fo!
Herzog also uses Sonny Terry at the end of my favorite movie--'Stroszek'...
Sonny Terry, as far as I know, is not related to Sammy Terry.
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