Drew's

Date Reviewed	12/11/2009
Title	Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Rating
Directed By :	Werner Herzog
Starring :	Nicolas Cage, Val Kilmer, Eva Mendes, Jennifer Coolidge, Fairuza Balk, Brad Dourif and Shawn Hatosy
Review	Seventeen years after the original “Bad Lieutenant” directed by Abel Ferrera, Werner Herzog puts a stamp on it with his version of a remake. Nicolas Cage stars as Terence McDonagh, a detective working in New Orleans just after Hurricane Katrina. He’s a mix between the cartoonish personality of Mel Gibson’s character in “Lethal Weapon” and Nic Cage’s lush of a character in “Leaving Las Vegas.” After five Senegalese immigrants are murdered, McDonagh gets put in charge as leader of a team to expose and catch the killers. There’s an old saying that reads “it takes a criminal to catch a criminal.” If that’s true, Terence is some kind of catcher! He’s your common abuser of authority to get the job done that takes it much further than most would ever consider. Falling star alert as Val Kilmer appears as McDonagh’s partner Stevie. There’s nothing fancy here as Val signs on for a minor forgettable role. It’s hard to believe this guy was an A-lister at one time who portrayed Jim Morrison on screen. Screen siren Eva Mendes plays a prostitute and close intimate friend for McDonagh. She’ll likely make most fans forget about Jennifer Lopez. Jennifer Coolidge shines in her supporting contribution as a drunken wife that judges others. Just as pretty as she can be made up; she can appear as weathered as the next truck stop party tramp. This is a role designed for Nicolas Cage. He gets his chance to play Denzel Washington in “Training Day.” He overacts with his verbal skills but makes up for it with his body language. As his physical attributes begin to whither due to a lack of care and an abundance of substance consumption, his physique gives the impression of a battered laborer. His animated bursts of that famous Cage energy seem a bit much as he’s forces it for dramatic effect. He’ll blame the drugs man, the drugs! It’s Nic keeping up his movie persona as the twitchy kinetic celebrity. I really have no idea why someone would remake this film. There’s not a big demand for it. The material is not original. Cage has been losing his star studded ability to wrangle in box office dollars for a while now. There are some entertaining moments buried within the good cop, bad cop and anxiety ridden wasted cop routines. The trippy scenes involving reptiles go off the deep end. The finale is one of the more contrived wrap ups I’ve seen in a long time. Talk about everything coming together! No matter what how irresponsible this person behaved, a positive result was in the forecast. That, my friends, is a great improbability. The time you’d think to perhaps walk out of this movie is exactly when it concludes. “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans” is mediocre with a lousy finish line. Drew's Reviews, copyright 2009, Drewsmoviereviews.com, property of Drew Bean.