Vengeance: A Love Story

Acting is very good. Nicolas though is severely underused. Wasted even. The movie starts off very promising, like a space rocket taking off. The plot advances and just when you expect the movie to jump into high gear it only sputters, fizzles, and rapidly loses altitude. Finally showing to be a dud with a script that simply goes nowhere. Feels like a made for TV cop show movie. The failing is not the actors. They were all very good. The script is to blame.

If you have time to kill with nothing else to watch then OK. Watch it for the acting. Otherwise, pass.

Cage is an enjoyable actor to watch no matter what movie he's in. He plays the strong silent cop here and completely does the job. I've seen him play the recovering addict, the weasel, the flamboyant villain, done it all and each time he makes the roll believable. Don Johnson as usual is fantastic as well. I can't believe how old he is, looks amazing. He plays the high profile sleaze lawyer and he owns the role. All the actors in my opinion perform their roles to a T, unfortunately the movie itself is not great, but it could have been. The directing, or the story, maybe both come off week. The problem is there is no real tension as Cage too easily walks through and obtains vengeance. There should have been some level of stress projected to the viewer, a sense that he will be identified or might fail, that the criminals might escape or turn the tables on him, but alas the writer or director chose not to pursue that angle in the movie. It could have been much much better. That being said, no matter how bad a movie, I always enjoy Cage, he does a movie good.

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.

There is not much of anything original or unpredictable going on with this movie. It is pretty much your standard revenge flick, where the bad guys get off in court, and they are dealt with via vigilante justice.

There is one bright spot in the film, though. That is the performance of Talitha Bateman as the daughter. She acts in a relaxed, natural manner that is totally believable. In fact, she shows more acting ability than some of the other characters in the movie. But to be fair, there are a number of caricature roles in the movie that aren't very demanding of the actors (for example, the bad guys and their mother).

Bateman is young, so I hope she can find some better scripts than this in the future, and continues to grow as an actress. At this point, she reminds me of how Saoirse Ronan was at the same age. Ronan developed into a very good actress. I hope Bateman can do the same.

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.