Customer Reviews

The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call: New Orleans

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Even if you were kind of so-so on the movie, this book still offers much to be enjoyed; half of the book is all photos from the film, very artistic and surreal at times; the 2nd part is the screenplay, which is fun to read. I really liked the movie, esp. for the visual style of Herzog and the perfectly cast Nicolas Cage. This is a very cool, high quality book that will please fans of the movie, Nic Cage, Werner Herzog, or just photography in general.

Also, there is a very informative essay by Herzog that explains some of his feelings behind the movie and concepts of film overall.

Highly recommended, esp. at this price!!!!

You did not see the same film I did. An American film made by a German film maker may not be your cup of tea. Mr. Cage gave one of his best in years. Not a remake since it ends very different than the original. I am sick of wannabe film critics on the internet. This is why I only read the New York Times and Film Comment.

"Bad Lieutenant" is set in New Orleans after Katrina. Terrence McDonaugh (Nicholas Cage) plays police Sergeant Terrence McDonagh. In the first scene he and his police buddy (Val Killmar) Scabrously powerful, the film dives into the addictive psyche, mixing Ferrara's fave elements: sex, drugs, and mayhem. Yet like his other films, it's a morality play about reclaimed sinners desperate for salvation in a world devoid of love and decency.

After Katrina, police sergeant Terence McDonagh rescues a prisoner, hurts his back in the process and earns a promotion to lieutenant plus an addiction to cocaine and painkillers. Six months later, a family is murdered over drugs; Terence runs the investigation. His drug-using prostitute girlfriend, his alcoholic father's dog, run-ins with two old women and a well-connected john, gambling losses, a nervous young witness, and thefts of police property put Terence's job and then his life in danger. He starts seeing things. He wants a big score to get out from under mounting debts, so he joins forces with drug dealers. The murders remain unsolved. A bad lieutenant gets worse.

Despite the Bad Lieutenant's continuing outrageous and crazy actions, you hope he comes through. Terrance juggles both ends of the moral spectrum (including pulling oxygen tubes from elderly patient to get vital information on informant from her caretaker) so we see a full panorama of his "balancing justice" manic personality until the end.

One scene stuck with me at the beginning Terrance sees the family massacre and reads a child's diary about a pet fish, "Do fish have dreams?" Everything seems to come together at the end, but then we see Terrance in another crazy cop situation.

Overall the movie was riveting and you cannot take your eyes off Terrance, a manic, delusional, detective that plays morality any way that works.

This movie has already been pirated and it's available for download all over the internet. I would not waste my bandwidth on this one. The first half of this movie is very boring and the second half is hardly any better. I love Nick Cage but his character in this film is just plain annoying. He's a detective that just happens to be a crack addict. He also walks with this stupid hunchback due to back problems. This movie is so ridiculous. Cage always seems in control although he's clearly addicted to crack. Real crack addicts do not function this well. He actually gets promoted to Captain towards the end of the movie. Eva Mendez also plays in this film. She plays Cages's prostitute girlfriend. She is not a bad actress but she had to be the most uninteresting prostitute i've ever seen. There was no chemistry between her character and Cage. It's hard to blame the actors for this one. This movie has a really bad script and it never really goes anywhere. I hear that the book is much better but i can not comment on that because i have not read it. I would definately pass on this one. This movie is not even worth renting.