Rage

In my effort to see as many films of last years as I can, I come across a typical revenge film that is indicative of a Euripides tragedy. Reason giving was to passion as the protagonist attempts to avenge the death of his daughter.

At the end, one thinks of Karma at work. The sins of the past being balanced in the future.

But is is those sins that cause me to think throughout this movie. I see an Irish Catholic boy in Paul (Nicolas Cage) who presumably confessed his sins and received absolution, and who then went on to perform great works to put that sinful life behind him.

But, I also see the stain of those sins remaining in his heart and soul. They never truly go away, and he reverts to his previous character and commits even greater sins as his passions consume him.

Passion overcomes reason and causes Paul to reject those who love him, and to hurt his friends as well as his enemies.

The sins of the father are visited upon the son, or in this case upon the daughter, played by Aubrey Peeples of Lake Mary, Florida, and a famed Sharknado actor.

"No child should have to pay for their father's sins." Paul Maguire (Cage) lived a life of crime and violence but has since reformed and is straight. He is doing everything he can to make a life free of violence and his past and just raise his daughter the right way. One night when he is out he is told that there was a break-in in his house and his daughter was taken. The police begin to investigate but to Paul they aren't doing enough, so he takes it upon himself to find who did this and make them pay. It's no surprise by now that you know how I feel about Nicolas Cage. I do have to say though that this is one of the better ones he has come out with lately (for me at least). I'm not exactly sure why I think this was a good one because the movie was a little generic and the idea has been redone a million times. There are some twists in this to make it seem fresh and they do work but again this is nothing all that original. It could be because of my dislike for Cage and my very low expectations for this but it was better then I expected it to be. The fact that it's so overdone makes it hard to review but I will say that if you are a fan of Nicolas Cage you will probably enjoy this more then me. Overall, generic but had a few twists to keep it interesting enough to keep you watching. I give this a B-.

I loved the first half of this movie, I loved it so much I would often rewind it and watch it ! The second half is when it got too many twists, everybody got careless and the whole thing went to hell! I don't know about you but if somebody kidnaps my daughter me and my crew are retaliating on who we think did it, I would be on my guard 24/7 Nicolas Cage and he's two cronies are going around kicking ass and taking names, then they let their guard down knowing those that you retaliate against are coming for you, also when I didn't like these, fools are going around in broad daylight shooting and beating up the bad guys in a RUSSIAN MOB! Seriously? I found that very careless and very silly, but again the first half was great and the twist was awesome! I don't want to ruin it for those who wish to see it. It was free on Amazon Prime so I didn't pay for it I would have been pissed if I had! I watch movies like many to be entertained, so the movie doesn't have to always be perfect but it would be nice if it made sense! The first half made sense...The second half GTFO.

I've watched some truly terrible films but this is the 1st time I have ever blacklisted a director. This fairly new Spanish filmmaker paco took some good ingredients and what must have been a fair budget and put cage into a... where to begin: very poorly scripted, cliché ridden, terrible music choice, poor use of effects, good actors poorly acting, beyond stupid sequences, stop start one dimensional, no character development(it does not count when you just narrate the plot or history)

It was an attempted rip off of the excellent taken. The one use of this film would be a learning tool for film students as the what not to do.

To end ill give you just one example as to why the blame is securely at the feet of the director. Near the end of a stupid action scene, as cage is about to deliver his cliché one liner, we get a cut shot which starts with a 3 second close up of nics crotch before panning up....pfff

Nic Cage is a good actor. Ethan Hawke once said he brought back the character actor, the man who did not focus on making his characters as 'real' as possible, but instead focused on how that character can be used to entertain, shock and intrigue the viewing audience. Nic Cage is a man who isn't afraid to jump the shark a million times and 34 years into his career I would say a million is about correct.

His latest film is Tokarev and its pretty average if i'm honest. After the very good 'Joe' and after Cage saying he would focus on more introverted roles, roles that take thought and commitment instead of a lazy performance for a paycheck (cough, Ghost Rider - Spirit Of Vengeance, cough), I knew he would take on a role along these lines and I don't blame him, the film does certainly have a few things going for it and Cage turns in an above average performance here, there's quite a few moments where he really shines and a few where he doesn't but he's never down right terrible which, considering his good to bad film ration the past 10 years, he should be given a medal for that.

I would recommend you give it a watch, its again pretty average but there are 3 or 4 scenes that surprised me and showed Nic Cage is truly back and he should be watched for the next few years. I think we are going to see a lot of good things from Rage Cage very soon.