Nick Cage's Journey to Nowhere
September 3rd 2008 23:08
As "Bangkok Dangerous" sets to open and millions of people could care less, I began to wonder what had happened to Nicholas Cage.
Granted, he was never a virtuoso talent that would draw people to almost any movie, like Johnny Depp or Tom Hanks do. But Cage was always good for entertainment. His skittishy behaviors and whacked out characters always made for an enjoyable two hours. He could do this perfectly for comedies like "Raising Arizona" or more dramatic turns, such as "Leaving Las Vegas."
Then he started doing action. At first it was all good. "The Rock" is still a favorite of many and "Con Air" was so enjoyable that its easy to overlook how bad the screenplay was. Cage's continued success in entertaining action fare like "Face/Off" and "Gone in 60 Seconds" made it acceptable that he try his hand (and fail) with dramatic turns in "City of Angels" and "Captain Corelli's Mandolin." He was still such a force that those movies drew acceptable numbers and still positioned Cage to make hits like "Adaptation."
But then something happened. His hair grew longer, his fare grew lighter and people started to see Nick Cage as more of a joke actor than the quirky, character actor he had been. He made "National Treasure" and never looked back. Cage went into full swing action hero mode and left his quirky characters in the dust. While the National Treasure movies are enjoyable, the lure of history and uncovering new facts about things we know is what carries Cage and the rest of the movie. He is not even the headliner in his own movie.
Yet Cage continues to stick with action and kiddie comedy and what troubles me is that there are no signs that he plans on giving up. He made "Ghost Rider" which was so bad that I almost turned it off even though it was free and I was flying countless hours from London back to NYC. But instead of learning, he has now decided to make a sequel. How the heck would want to see that? He also has a movie coming out called "The Ghost" where he plays a ghostwriter who finds out secrets about the former Prime Minister and gets wrapped up in a devious plot. He keeps replaying the same characters over and over. Either its a history enthusiast who gets caught in some crazy plot (like the upcoming "Knowing") or he's a bad boy who needs to change his ways to help others ("Con Air" and the upcoming "Scared Straight."
If it's not action, then its children's comedy. He teaches his daughter to be a superhero is the soon to be released "Kick-Ass." But it doesn't end there; he voices a specially trained Guinea Pig in "G-Force" and a robot scientist in "Astro Boy."
Now I know Cage as aged and he as a family and personal interests that he would like to put on film. He has said numerous times that he wants his filmmaking experience to be "organic" (whatever he means by that) if he is going to keep making movies. Personally, I think if Cage keeps making movies he should stay more honest to himself. Let the quirky, off-centered side of you come out. Go back to playing the characters with a screw loose. He would make a great villain in an action movie instead of always trying to be the hero. If he can find a way to bring his personality back to the screen, he may find another hit.
Granted, he was never a virtuoso talent that would draw people to almost any movie, like Johnny Depp or Tom Hanks do. But Cage was always good for entertainment. His skittishy behaviors and whacked out characters always made for an enjoyable two hours. He could do this perfectly for comedies like "Raising Arizona" or more dramatic turns, such as "Leaving Las Vegas."
Then he started doing action. At first it was all good. "The Rock" is still a favorite of many and "Con Air" was so enjoyable that its easy to overlook how bad the screenplay was. Cage's continued success in entertaining action fare like "Face/Off" and "Gone in 60 Seconds" made it acceptable that he try his hand (and fail) with dramatic turns in "City of Angels" and "Captain Corelli's Mandolin." He was still such a force that those movies drew acceptable numbers and still positioned Cage to make hits like "Adaptation."
But then something happened. His hair grew longer, his fare grew lighter and people started to see Nick Cage as more of a joke actor than the quirky, character actor he had been. He made "National Treasure" and never looked back. Cage went into full swing action hero mode and left his quirky characters in the dust. While the National Treasure movies are enjoyable, the lure of history and uncovering new facts about things we know is what carries Cage and the rest of the movie. He is not even the headliner in his own movie.
Yet Cage continues to stick with action and kiddie comedy and what troubles me is that there are no signs that he plans on giving up. He made "Ghost Rider" which was so bad that I almost turned it off even though it was free and I was flying countless hours from London back to NYC. But instead of learning, he has now decided to make a sequel. How the heck would want to see that? He also has a movie coming out called "The Ghost" where he plays a ghostwriter who finds out secrets about the former Prime Minister and gets wrapped up in a devious plot. He keeps replaying the same characters over and over. Either its a history enthusiast who gets caught in some crazy plot (like the upcoming "Knowing") or he's a bad boy who needs to change his ways to help others ("Con Air" and the upcoming "Scared Straight."
If it's not action, then its children's comedy. He teaches his daughter to be a superhero is the soon to be released "Kick-Ass." But it doesn't end there; he voices a specially trained Guinea Pig in "G-Force" and a robot scientist in "Astro Boy."
Now I know Cage as aged and he as a family and personal interests that he would like to put on film. He has said numerous times that he wants his filmmaking experience to be "organic" (whatever he means by that) if he is going to keep making movies. Personally, I think if Cage keeps making movies he should stay more honest to himself. Let the quirky, off-centered side of you come out. Go back to playing the characters with a screw loose. He would make a great villain in an action movie instead of always trying to be the hero. If he can find a way to bring his personality back to the screen, he may find another hit.
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