Okay so it’s not exactly “Water for Elephants,” but the usually good Werner Herzog was listed as director, and apparently Roger Ebert said it was one of the best movies of 2009, which I had missed. So I rented it, though it’s not really on a subject matter that has many redeeming qualities. It’s a pretty dark movie about a detective on the take of drugs and other favors on the streets of New Orleans while trying to solve the murder of an immigrant family. This is one crooked cop (played by Nicolas Cage); you name it, he’s done it, which makes it a pretty uneasy watching experience.
It’s quite a change to see Cage, who’s done a slew of Disney films recently, playing this corrupt a character. Even his Ben in “Leaving Las Vegas” knew more right from wrong. Yet, Cage’s bad lieutenant is still good at solving the case at hand despite all his illegal activities.
I sort of forgot Harvey Keitel had played the “Bad Lieutenant” in a different movie set in New York in 1992. No wonder it sounded familiar. The filmmakers say it isn’t a remake, but it sure seems quite alike. In the end, there wasn’t a really good reason that I needed to sit through the same themes again. There’s some good suspense and acting in it, but during the process you wade through considerable sleeze. Keitel’s lieutenant pays for it, but Cage’s lieutenant comes through clean.
