Bad Lieutenant: Port of call- New Orleans review

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is directed by Werner Herzog and stars Nicolas Cage along with Eva Mendes. This is the first Herzog film that I have seen, but it is my understanding that he's a director who takes many chances with his film projects. I have to say that this director has caught my attention.

In this dark comedy, Nic Cage is a Lieutenant who suffers constant back pain from trying to save a man stuck in a prison cell during Hurricaine Katrina. He becomes addicted to Cocaine and other illegal substances in an attempt to cope with his pain. He also grows more reckless as the film progresses through gambling and commiting many crimes.

With the help of Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant, Nicolas Cage is back in form. In fact, I don't think he's been this good since Adaptation. Without him, I don't think this film could of pulled it off. Throughout the movie, Cage is hunched and appears to be in substantial pain when off his medication, and when he isn't acting like he's in pain, he has to act like he's high. Cage is absolutely convincing, his performance doesn't falter at any moment of the film. I feel as though he got somewhat snubbed by not even getting a nomination at the Oscars for his wonderful perfomance.

The same goes for Herzog. I feel as though he did a great job on how he went about the issue of Hurricaine Katrina in this movie. Its not the focus, just the setting. But I feel Herzog understands that some of the acts Cage's character does throughout the film wouldn't of been possible without an event as devastating as Katrina to cripple New Orleans.

The reason why I call Bad Lieutenant a "dark comedy" is because thats what it is. The acts and scenarios surrounding Cage's character are ridiculous. Ridiculous to the point of laughter from the audience. Unlike Abel Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant from 1992, the film doesn't attempt to sympathize with the protagonist. I don't think that Cage's character even pities himself, and the bombarding dilemmas he faces throughout the film. He just acts out on instict, too careless or high to worry about the consequences. The audience is left with doing one thing when watching Bad Lieutenant; laugh along with the protagonist.

Herzog was quoted saying something to the extent of the nature of evil, which is that evil is blissful. It isn't so much as an excuse for the character's actions, but more of an understanding on his motivations. This film has no good guys, nor any bad guys. There are only shades of grey. Thats what brings this film into greatness, instead of mediocrity.

Michael Mann

This is a director who hasn't gotten his due from the public nor the critics alike. He's done work which study men at work. By work, I mean professions as criminals and detectives. He was the mind behind such films as Heat, the Insider, Collateral, Miami Vice and the recent Public Enemies. There is a clear correlation between the characters of these films. Most of these movies include cops and robbers.

I believe that Mann's work has redefined the idea of an action movie. Most of the films that I said early have substantial amounts of action and violence in them. In fact, some of the most perfectly shot and executed action scenes have been seen in his films, like the bank robbery in Heat or the showdown in the forrest in Public Enemies. Despite the action and violence being very well done in his film, that is not the reason why I believe Mann has redefined this genre. It's how powerful his character studies are.

Take Heat for example. Throughout the film, we see that both the antagonist and protagonist are severly flawed. Pacino's character lives for his police work which hurts his marriage. DeNiro's character is lonely which is in part due to the career that he chose, criminal/thief. Mann goes into a more Arthouse territory with Public Enemies. He studies more the era of crime in which the movie takes place, which is the great depression, than the actual characters themselves in the film. I used the word arthouse because of the way he uses his camera. Often enough the camera shakes when theres action and gets a close up of the main characters at certain key points. The camera is almost a character of the film, giving the audience access to these to these criminals of great reputation.

There's also the sound in Public Enemies. When a gun fires, it roars. Some may find that aspect of the film somewhat annoying and loud, but I think that it serves a purpose. Adds a sort of chaos to the gun battles, which seems appropriate and even necessary.

Michael Mann loves the look of cities in the nighttime. Whether its in Heat, Miami Vice or Collateral, the night shots really set the mood. Mann used a digital camera for his more recent films which bring out the texture of his nighttime scenes. Some might argue that using a digital camera is simply not proper, but it serves his purpose to help the audience better see his night scenes.

Michael Mann has done a lot for the movie business. He pushed the boundaries of the "action" movie and turned it into a very respectible genre. Hopefully, there will be many more Michael Mann films to come.