Don't let Nicolas Cage's name on the marquee scare you away, this is the director of The Crow and Dark City (which if you have not seen the Director's Cut, you need to do so) given free reign, and it is amazing, assuming you accept a revelation about 2/3 of the way in. The ambition here is pretty staggering by the end.
Having just seen this, I predict viewers of it will fall into two camps: unabashed love or extreme dislike save for a few scenes (the plane and subway scenes come to mind). How you accept the final third will determine which camp you are placed in. I was confused by Ebert giving it four stars and then hearing others whose opinions I also often agree with eviscerate it, but after seeing it this makes total sense.
I fall into the unabashed love category, and absolutely did not expect to going in. My brother Doug felt the same way. I think Cage actually gives a good performance, and feel like most of the criticism on his part is either residual from other aspects of the movie people don't like or just bandwagon stuff that he admittedly wrought upon himself with multiple disasters such as LaBute's Wicker Man.
Having just seen this, I predict viewers of it will fall into two camps: unabashed love or extreme dislike save for a few scenes (the plane and subway scenes come to mind). How you accept the final third will determine which camp you are placed in. I was confused by Ebert giving it four stars and then hearing others whose opinions I also often agree with eviscerate it, but after seeing it this makes total sense.
I fall into the unabashed love category, and absolutely did not expect to going in. My brother Doug felt the same way. I think Cage actually gives a good performance, and feel like most of the criticism on his part is either residual from other aspects of the movie people don't like or just bandwagon stuff that he admittedly wrought upon himself with multiple disasters such as LaBute's Wicker Man.
