I was lucky enough to attend the Popcorn Taxi screening of Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans, the only screening of the film at all in any cinema in Australia, which is quite an honour, but its also quite tragic that more people couldn’t have experienced this in cinema release as it marries two great creative forces, actor Nicolas Cage and legendary director Werner Herzog.
The title Bad Lieutenant may sound familiar to film buffs as the 1992 Abel Ferrara film starring Harvey Kietel as a crooked cop who was a drunk addict, who took sexual bribes and had inner religious guilt. When word got out that there will be another Bad Lieutenant film, many asked why? The previous film seemed to cover an effective character study, with a memorable performance from Kietel. Most saw it as a case of shameless moneymaking turning the Bad Lieutenant into a franchise (the title itself is quite disgustingly awkward), and this may have been the case at first, which angered many, especially Ferrara himself, stating “As far as remakes go, … I wish these people die in Hell. I hope they’re all in the same streetcar, and it blows up.”
At most times i would agree with such an intense statement, due to my disgust at some of the films being shamelessly remade for economic reasons, but the name Werner Herzog stopped me walking down that angry road, purely for the master he truly is. This man is a filmmaking legend. His films have dared to go further than most filmmakers would even think. He directed one of the most notorious actors in film history, the brilliant yet violently mad Klaus Kinski, not once, but five times. Herzog travelled deep into Amazon in 1972 to film Aguirre: The Wrath Of God, an intensely raw account of the conquistadors on a journey to find El Dorado. He had the courage to remake one of the seminal pieces of cinema in history, F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent film Nosferatu, with his 1979 remake Nosferatu The Vampyre, as well as experienced horrible conditions and conflicts with natives with 1982s Fitzcarraldo, in which a river boat was also literally dragged over a large hill. These films are but three breathtakingly beautiful and intense works of Herzog. Therefore i greeted this Bad Lieutenant with intrigue.
Herzog’s film from a superficial glance can be seen as a sequel, or a remake, but Herzog insists it is neither, and upon seeing it, you really cannot compare this film to Ferrara, as its a completely different entity. The film follows Terrence McDonagh (Nicolas Cage), a New Orleans cop, who after a heroic act in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, he is promoted to Lieutenant and is left with a horrible back injury, to which he takes prescription drugs to ease the pain. Six months later tt is revealed that he also takes in addition cocaine and majuana with his loyal prostitute girlfriend Frankie Donnenfeld (Eva Mendes). At this time he is assigned to investigate a homicide of six immigrants from Senagal execution style, but he doesn’t investigate like an average cop, but instead is a loose cannon who as the film progresses becomes more ingulfed in drugs, gambling debts and general insanity.
Sure, this film may also sound like your average corrupt cop film, but upon watching, this is anything but. Bad Lieutenant Port Of Call New Orleans is an amazingly crazy character study, which is not only confronting, but extremely engaging and insanely hilarious for all the right crazy reasons.
The main ingredient in the Herzogs vision is Nicolas Cage, once an Oscar Winner, once loved almost universally, but in recent years has been engulfed in substandard action films. In the middle 90s when this action trend began, it was strange, but effective (namely Face/Off), but soon this type of Cage became stale and embaressing. So with films such as Ghost Rider, Next and Bangkok Dangerous being released, with the addition of some of THE WORST hairpieces in Hollywood history, it completely engulfed the other Nicolas Cage, the kooky Nic, the offbeat Nic, the batshit crazy Nic, which is so very timeless in movies such as The Coen Bros. 1988 film Raizing Arizona, Robert Bierman’s 1989 film Vampire’s Kiss, and more recently, Spike Jonze’s 2002 film Adaptation.
In the recent Kick-Ass, the offbeat Nic returned to my great pleasure as Big Daddy, but in Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans, the truely unhinged crazy as FUCK to which i love and missed returns valiantly in Terrence McDonagh. In the first ten minutes of the film, one would believe that Crazy Cage is just rusty, but this perception was completely misguided, he was just warming up. The film moves on and so does McDonagh into the drugs, and so does the crazy irratic behaviour, that not only gets the job somehow done, but is very VERY funny, very VERY trippy and very VERY memorable lines (Shoot him again, his soul is still dancing), giving not only Cage a landmark performance in his career, but a character that can be safely put next to Klaus Kinski’s insane creations.
Herzog guides the audience through this amazingly unhinged portrail that Cage gives his all, from his strange walk, the facial expressions, the changing vocal patterns, it is such a joy, heck even his hair works in this! What is also great is the ambiguity to his “badness”, never knowing how truly bad he is, or when he lost his way. This is award worthy material, which obviously scared safe voters away, which is a shame, but the part in itself is an amazing reward for the audience and Cage’s career, which so sorely needed this type of character.
Aiding Cage is an ensemble supporting cast of familiar faces, including Eva Mendes’ girlfriend who not only looks stunning, but holds her own, she is charming, the noticably plumper Val Kilmer as Stevie Pruit, Terrence’s partner, who isn’t utilised as much as he should have been, but when he’s there, he is also very good, creating his own crazily humorous cop (see Kiss Kiss Bang Bang). Brad Dourif, a Herzog regular, works well as the nagging bookie, Ned Schoenholtz, and works well. Sometimes actor Xzibit surprisingly works well as criminal Big Fate, who does a great WTF face to Cage’s craziness. Also unknown actor Shea Whigham must be mentioned as the kooky Justin, the customer who beats Frankie and refuses to pay, and yet is very cool and hilariously arrogant, he is very good value that has to be mentioned.
The film also effectively captures beautifully another crazy figure, being New Orleans post-Katrina, which avoids the New Orleans cliches and presents it as a very strange, ravaged society. He effectively shows this through the camera, and through the crazy characters in a seriously wacked yet great script. It is also very entertaining how he uses animals, in the more tripped out sequences. One point he uses a tiny digital camera to film an alligator by the road side for over a minute, and yet there is no real logical reason for this, but in a mad world it adds to the insanity. The music too is reflects not only New Orleans, but the madness with a hybrid of strangeness and the blues.
In the end, i was very surprised, first suspecting but another silly remake, a dead serious one without any fun. However it was more than just fun i was given, but a vast experience of a crazy society lead by a powerhouse performance from Cage. The film can be seen as social commentary, but it also doesn’t need to be, it foremostly needs to be, as Herzog puts as “fun”.
This Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans gave me everything and more of what i wanted from the original Abel (i need to relax) Ferrara film. The film was satisfying and very entertaining and will doubtlessly become a cult favourite in years to come. Lets hope Cage has more of these roles up his sleeves in the midst of his fantasy tripe. I hoped very much that this film would break my 5 star rating streak, but, this film was just too damn good to avoid it. Find it on DVD as it’s a travesty it wasn’t shown cinematically.
5/5
