No one does crazy like Nicolas Cage. Bad Lieutenant Port of Call New Orleans might however be the first movie that matches Cage’s ability to play a staggeringly demented raving lunatic with an equally disturbed plot, thanks in no small part to the fact that Cage is in every single scene of the movie.

Bad Lieutenant very closely follows the utterly depraved exploits of the eponymous Bad Lieutenant, Terrence McDonagh (Nicolas Cage) as he seeks justice for the brutal murder of a family of Sengalise illegal immigrants, despite all appearances to the contrary as his character plunges into increasingly heavy substance abuse through the course of the movie.

Let’s get this out of the way right now, this movie could well be considered profoundly disturbing, particularly if you’ve never seen this kind of dark material before. There are quite a few depictions of the use of a variety of illegal substances, mostly by Cage himself, and that could actually be the least of his crimes.

Terrence McDonagh has to be one of the most purposely unlikeable protagonists to make the big screen in that he is just a really bad person in almost every imaginable sense, and yet somehow you can’t help but root for his character, maybe since his motivations are rarely articulated, they’re mostly…ingested.

Cage is easily the star of the show; however he is well supported by Eva Mendes who quite frankly has never been quite as good in any movie before or since. There is a real tragic quality about her performance as Cage’s drug addled prostitute/girl friend, a sort of fragile, yet unhinged performance that is well worth watching.

Rapper and Pimp My Ride host Xzibit also shows up as Big Fate, a gang leader looking to make it into more legitimate big time investments, his performance is surprisingly good all things considered but nothing to write home about. Largely I think that most of Xzbits reactions to Cage’s craziness was probably genuine, as probably all Cage’s costars would probably confirm if asked.

Meanwhile, Val Kilmer makes an appearance as Cage’s almost equally off the rails partner, and his time on screen is excellent however in all the madness, he was perhaps a bit underutilized.

Stand out scenes include a couple of imaginary iguanas and the break dancing soul of a recently murdered gangster. Yes you read that correctly and unfortunately there’s no real way of explaining more clearly. The movie itself takes a while to build up to its full intensity and the second act might be considered a bit of a drag by some but Bad Lieutenant is one mental movie that will administer enough of evil, twisted shocks to your system that it will keep you riveted to your sit in slack-jawed amazement…because no one and I really mean no one, does crazy like Nicolas cage.

Genre: crime-drama, action

Rating-3.5

By Channa Fernandopulle