Nicholas Cage's career point has been reached. It was easiest to refer to all the new movies he was in, simply by explaining his antics. Dracula Cage, awful boss – it's “Lenfield”. Moody Chef Cage, beloved animal retriever – it is a “pig”. Serial killer cage, a servant of Satan – it is a “long leg.”
The tactic is easy to imagine the cage wearing any of those outfits, and another 1000 people will work beyond that. While many commenters point out that Cage's tendency to play out roles can only be described as crazy, the actor's career is vast, often more subtle, and is not reduced to his unhinged character. Tell him he's not going to play ballet master, mob boss, and furious father (like his latest film, The Surfer). Sometimes he plays multiple guys in the same film. Like my favorite of his film, “Adaptation,” he appears as twins.
It is the best way to hold the cage as an artist is to consider him through his many faces. Even when he occasionally has that face, um, um.
“Moonstruck” (1987)
Honest love interest
Early on, Cage worked to establish a career apart from his last name. (The Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola was his uncle, director Roma and Sofia Coppola and actor Jason Schwartzman are his cousins.) He quickly managed it in a series of films, including many performances as Mamerasu, a passionate, somewhat undistinguishable young man. What shines in each is a complete commitment to all the loud desires, suffering and ecstasy, whatever the character's emotional reality is.
A great and representative performance of this era is his turn as Love Lawn Hot Head Ronnie, who is obsessed with his brother's fiance (Cheer) in the 1987 romantic comedy “Moonstruck.” Ronnie may have missed his hands thanks to the freak pan slicer accident, but he hasn't missed the gall, a ravaged gallery. It is an attractive, sleazy, arousing, arousing role, and its caged versions appear in Coen Brothers' “Raising Arizona” (1987) and David Lynch's “Wild at Heart” (1990).
(Stream “Moonstruck” on the Roku and Criterion channels, or rent it on most major platforms.)
“Con Air” (1997)
Action Star
Many broad-shouldered Hollywood guys look to flicks filled with stunts, and cages are no exception. Many action films are as thin as the paper with scripts printed on them, but when he appears to be investing in the role, the cage often brings some weight. For example, in Con Air (1997), the films around him are rather ridiculous. He is the former enemy hero of a transport plane full of prisoners – but there's something soulful and textured about his work that goes far beyond what the film needs. He can also throw persuasive punches.
(Low “con air” on most major platforms.)
Cage tends to bring out his strangest performances for films that are budgeted enough to make filmmakers wild. Although the 2018 Revenge Fantasia “Mandy” has gained considerable cult following, it is possible that you have never seen many of these.
Seeing the cage in Osgood Perkins' “long legs” during the hottest days of 2024 certainly looked like the pinnacle of this character. As a serial killer terrorizing a young girl and her family, he is barely recognised, his skin is bleached, added to his surprise hair, and a terrifying smile that wants to disappear behind a popcorn bucket. This kind of role isn't about the cage being weird, and not so much about his willingness to do something for performance, no matter how unrecognizable he is.
(Stream “Longlegs” on Hulu or rent it on most major platforms.)
“The unbearable weight of large-scale talent” (2022)
Self-parodist
Cage knows he has a general reputation as being a fierce, explosive, a bit confused, prolific, kind of living, breathing meme. In recent years, he has leaned against his persona as a bit of a joke. This is the 2023 drama “Dream Scenario.” He depicts an unfortunate professor who begins to appear in a dream of a stranger's score, initially drawing the media attention it brings. It's a film about the joys and dangers of widespread fame that he certainly knows something.
But it is truly “the ineligible weight of an unbearable talent” (2022) that he allows a self-cautious face show with this wink. He plays actor Nick Cage. He strolls with his superfan (Pedro Pascal). It's full of anguish for Cage's most famous film, a comedy about being Nick Cage, which we think we know.
(Low the “large, unbearable talent weight” on most major platforms.)
“The Magician's Apprentice” (2010)
I'm the guy who needs a salary
Look, everyone has to pay the bill. Cage was occasionally wrapped in financial baths, with his real estate gushing and Wackadou Dollar purchases (a $276,000 dinosaur skull) attracting attention from the news media.
Usually, Hollywood actors begin to get mysterious roles (and sometimes commercial approvals), so you can know when they have debts to pay. But in the case of Cage, pay movies can be boring. There is no bigger example than the 2010 version of The Sorcerer's Apprentice. The cage brings some quirkyness, but mostly brings a sense of obligation to a somewhat less vibrant remake of Disney classics. That's all the script wants.
(Stream “The Magician Apprentice” on Disney or rent it on most major platforms.)
Here it is: Cage is a great actor. Not only does he have range, but he can plumb them for his deep and especially for his flashy role. His only Oscar came in 1996 because he decided to kill himself as the alcoholic scriptwriter of Mike Figgis' “Leave Las Vegas.” In City of Angels (1998), Doving the Dead (1999) and Joe (2014), he takes on dramatic roles as well as unforgettable results.
One of his biggest performances came in the 2021 character drama “Pig.” He plays the ferocious chef of the bereaved family traveling through the Portland cooking scene and its underworld in search of the beloved truffle-hunting pigs stolen from him. His character is a mountain of men who seem completely controlled and ready to erupt, and the cage keeps your toes forever. Near the end, he cooks the meal for a very specific purpose, which is something that never fades away.
(Stream “Pigs” on Paramount or rent it on most major platforms.)
“Adaptation” (2002)
chameleon
It's hard to counteract Nicholas Cage. What he does in certain movies is that he can swing, swing and run down the rails. In “Adaptation” (2002), he plays screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (who actually wrote the screenplay) and his fictional twin brother, Donald. Charlie is a stressful ball of anxiety sweating with obsession, but Donald is refreshing, rude and confident in the way he really isn't getting. It's a banana movie, fun and weird. However, when we see Cage adjoining each other twins whom he opposes on a whim, we begin to see how much he contains, and how his long, expressive face can be.
Cage's latest film, “The Surfer,” can be summed up like this. Business Guy Cage gets stuck in the beach car park for reasons to approach Kafka winds if he is not driven much by his injured ego. He then slowly becomes engrossed as he is bullied by an Australian surfer wellness cult under the oppressive sun. You may think you know what his performance will look like from that description, but you're probably a bit wrong. Because it always applies to a cage, so when you get him the handle, he will show you something you've never seen before.
(Rent an “adaptive” on most major platforms.)
Video: MGM (“Moonstruck”); Touchstone Pictures (“Con Air”); C2 Motion Picture Group (“Longlegs”); Lions Gate (“The Unbearable Weights of Large-Scale Talent”); Walt Disney Photos (“The Magician's Apprentice”); AI Film (“Pig”); Columbia Photos (“Adapt”)
