The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans

How does a movie with a couple of Hollywood studs and veterans make a movie with this decrepit? I know. Financial despair will force someone to do something they normally would not do. Nicolas Cage is Lt. Terence McDonagh and his real life personality is better off than the character he plays in this sad saga. I have read that Cage borrowed to heavily and spread himself too thin in a real estate spending spree. That can explain why the former Oscar winner chose a role usually beneath his caliber and proclivity.

My blogs are usually in proportion to the quality of movie. This not going to be any different. But this movie was not in the terrible realm.

Ice Man is back. Val Kilmer is not doing much these days. Kilmer is Stevie Pruit who is Terence's unfortunate partner. This movie occurs in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in the The Big Lazy. Terence injures his back jumping into some water to help someone escape who was trapped in a jail cell. Though it appeared to be a clean jump to me. It was only about 7 feet before he hit the water. I would have been worried about water moccasins which one was shown to be swimming around. The doctor issued him a virtual or lifetime supply of Vicadin but apparently this was not enough for him. Shortly thereafter, he developes a heroin habit to pacify and soothe his back. He should have taken early retirement which I am sure he was offered. I would think this would be forced upon him.

This movie developes characters that I have no interest in knowing about. Terence's sister just rambles on which is unneccessary in the middle of the movie.

Cage is back with Eva Mendes. This movie is about as good as their previous one where Cage flipped back and forth between a skeleton man on fire and a daredevil. Both of these movies are not worth much. Eva is Frankie Donnenfeld who is basically a high priced call girl who is Terence's girlfriend.

This movie is actually hilarious. Terence's life is in disarray if one could not already infer. His dad is in AA and he can not take care of their full ground labradore. Neither can his sister who seems to live at home still. Without asking what the dog's name is, Terence adopts the dog and the dog is riding in the back seat of a police cruiser with the high profile witness in the front seat. That was funny.

The plot of the movie encircles the murders of five Senegalese. Terence is trying to run down the suspects and determine what happened while he is balancing his psychotic life. He is losing sports gambler. He is a drug addict. How know one in the office knows about this is comical. When he threatens some old woman because she paid for a plain ticket for the young witness to flee the country so he does not have to testify, that is when Internal Affairs starts to scrutinize him. He also threatens some other guy whose dad is a major player in the south, he ties his own noose. He is right in both incidences but his professionalism and tone are contracy to what is expected and appropriate. His lack of tactfullness is actually put on display in the first few moments of this movie.

Terence walks around like a hunch back. There is no way he would be on active duty, not even in a French or Saudi Arabian police department.

Terence's must surrender his weapon and he is put in the evidence room. This is where he has been stealing heroin and jamming up the full time uniform police officer who manages this room. Another humorous scene.

This movie has a lot of elements to it. Terence blackmails a superstar college football player. He goes into business with Big Fate who played by the rapper Xzibit. Fate is a powerful drug dealer in the city who agrees to partner with Terrance. Terrence feeds him information where the police presence will attack the drug trade and Terrence slices him off a little of the cash and heroin.

Strange scene when Fate and his compadres shoot up some organized criminals who invade his house. Terence said shoot them again because their soul's were still dancing. And they had some guy break dancing who obviously could not be seen accept for the delusional and hallucinating Terence. He was dancing right in the middle of the carnage. Weird.

This movie is ridiculous. Terence's bookie delivers his winnings to him in his office at work. In front of all the other law enforcement. Apparently Fate was being played by Terrence. He certainly fooled me but it is too ludicrous to be credible. A police officer with half of this guy's faults and deficiencies would never be allowed to stroll around the community with a loaded weapon. I mean, Terrence is screwing prostitutes and robbing people of their drugs in a club's parking lot. He is corrupt beyond measure.

Fate is arrested and the Senegalese murder case is resolved. The murders occured over a disputed drug territority evidently. It is insinuated that Terrence will seek some drug rehabilitation. That is a start, his gambling addiction should be shortly thereafter.

This movie was actually somewhat clever. It was much better than Cage's Wicker Man. That was despicable.

I allocate this movie two stars.**