Vengeance: A Love Story

Vengeance: A Love Story is based on the book Rape: A Love Story by Joyce Carol Oates, and it makes a difference. Cage plays John Dromoor – a Niagara Falls hero cop and Purple-Heart-awarded Desert Storm veteran, who takes a personal interest in a case when a young single mother is gang-raped. While the story doesn't look quite original and the vigilante cop theme isn't even an strange role for Cage, this movie is not just another run-of-the-mill vigilante movie. True, it focuses more on the vigilante part than the book (probably the reason for the change in titles), but this is a story about rape all the same, not vengeance.

As such, it's darker, slower but also better compared to similar movies. The story is well put together, though the aftermath and the effects of the lives of Teena and Bethie could have been a little more fleshed out, and similarly some of the other main characters, notably the judge and Don Johnson's lawyer character.

The acting is good. Cage is good, his usual, but slower, a bit more withdrawn. Don Johnson's performance as an unscrupulous lawyer oozes slime (good role-casting) and Talitha Bateman puts on a good performance as the daughter. Sadly, the final third falls quite flat, and I blame mostly the title. If you make a movie about vengeance, than put a bit more effort in it. While more realistic than Cage's usual wise- cracking one-liners, the movie builds up to a momentum that never really arrives, as he coldly and efficiently disposes of the perps. But overall, this is a decent movie, just don't expect a blood soaked, bullet-riddled vigilante movie.

I enjoyed his, I love a good revenge film. Some great performances from the cast and Nic actually held back a lot and have a reserved performance. He's straight to the point no messing about BANG! Sorted. Liked that approach.

The victim is also gorgeous. The rape scene could have been a bit more visual to really make you hate the rapists more. .......but thankfully was brief and was still more than enough to anger and disgust the viewer......ready for the revenge. Course scenes are a bit far fetched but sadly this crap happens. I'd have liked to have seen the lawyer get his cumuppence also. Better than usual revenge, vigilant cop film. No the most original but a great pay off. Worth a watch......forget the haters. Worth it just to witness yet another o Nic Cages hair do(n'ts)

I can see why this film did note score well as it has lots of fall downs, but as a film its worth watching. If you accept the fact its all been done before and it panders to both cage and Johnson's ego's you will enjoy it, the daughter and mother will make you smile, chuckle and cry, cry a lot. Cage is trying to stay relevant in films but is still acting like its 2000. Don Johnson, 1991, love them both as icons. Once you admit that this is a Nick Cage produced film and enjoy it as a story, it actually is a good film.

This movie showed great potential in the very beginning. There were good characters and great plot development. Then it just fell flat. I guess the vengeance was supposed to be due to the connection between the detective and the victim, but I never felt any connection between them. The actual vengeance was poorly developed and the ending was pretty lame. There are better movies to watch.

Initially I had believed this to be just yet another mass-produced movie that Nicolas Cage pops up in time after time. However, director Johnny Martin actually proved me wrong here and it turned out that this was one of the better movies that Nicolas Cage was in.

Now, I will say that it wasn't because Nicolas Cage put on an outstanding performance, although he had upped his game here in comparison to what he usually does. No, it is the storyline and the brutality of the movie that made it so good.

As for the acting, well as I just said then Nicolas Cage did perform surprisingly well here, although it was not his top performance. However, the movie was really carried excellently by Talitha Bateman and Don Johnson. Talitha Bateman really has potential for a great acting career. And as for Don Johnson, then it felt like that particular role was custom made for him, because he was simply superb in this movie.

"Vengeance: A Love Story" is a brutal movie in a way that doesn't cross the line and become tacky or sleazy. It is the nature of the storyline that makes it brutal and does leave something in the audience once the movie has ended.

I was more than genuinely entertained with the outcome of this movie, and it was a positive surprise that the movie was so much more better than I had expected it to be. So if you are a fan of Nicolas Cage, and actually if you aren't as well, then you should do take the time to sit down and watch "Vengeance: A Love Story", because it is well worth the time and effort.