What makes this film truly different is the unique tone introduced by director Werner Herzog.
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:73
Fresh:62
Rotten:11
Average Rating:7.2/10
Consensus: Befitting its unorthodox origins, this Bad Lieutenant benefits from Werner Herzog's typically fearless direction and a delightfully unhinged Nicolas Cage in the title role.
Runtime: 2 hrs 1 min
Genre: Action/Adventure
Synopsis: In Werner Herzog’s new film “The Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans,” Nicolas Cage plays a rogue detective who is as devoted to his job as he is at scoring drugs -- while playing fast and... In Werner Herzog’s new film “The Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans,” Nicolas Cage plays a rogue detective who is as devoted to his job as he is at scoring drugs -- while playing fast and loose with the law. He wields his badge as often as he wields his gun in order to get his way. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina he becomes a high-functioning addict who is a deeply intuitive, fearless detective reigning over the beautiful ruins of New Orleans with authority and abandon. Complicating his tumultuous life is the prostitute he loves (played by Eva Mendes). Together they descend into their own world marked by desire, compulsion, and conscience. The result is a singular masterpiece of filmmaking: equally sad and manically humorous. --© Apparition [More]
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Val Kilmer, Fairuza Balk
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Val Kilmer, Fairuza Balk, Jennifer Coolidge, Brad Dourif, Xzibit, Shawn Hatosy, Denzel Whitaker, Shea Whigham, Vondie Curtis-Hall
Director: Werner Herzog
Director: Werner Herzog
Screenwriter: William M. Finkelstein
Composer: Mark Isham
Studio: Apparition
Reviews for Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
The movie could have ended without the last few scenes and been far more tense and suspenseful. As it stands now, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans plays as if Schindler's List ended with an energetic musical performance by The Muppets.
Like the late Klaus Kinski, who so often played crazies in Herzog's earlier movies, Cage is in your face all the way. Laughing maniacally, lying with no sign of a conscience, he pushes the character's frequent tantrums beyond over-the-top.
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call, New Orleans is a magnificent mess of the sort only Herzog can get away with making.
Frankly, the story isn't remotely as interesting as Cage. Nothing is.
Cage can be loopy, weird and at the same time sympathetic -- crucial to our response to this character -- and Herzog draws one of his better performances here.
A one-of-a-kind experience that boasts a twice-in-a-lifetime performance from Nicolas Cage.
Despite his strangely receding hairline, bug-eyed demeanor and hunchback stance, Cage somehow avoids making this police lieutenant a caricature.
The iguanas are like the frogs at the end of Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia, only better.
Nicolas Cage, a born Hollywood skin-walker, somehow hints at a spiritual dimension to all this lunatic mayhem.
Herzog, who seems to be drawing on the audience’s affection for him as an inspired madman, may not care to tell a story straight anymore.
Sensationally entertaining, darkly comedic, witty and refreshingly bizarre. A guilty pleasure. Nicolas Cage is in top form.
We have to go all the way back to Junior Brown, the psychopathic strip club owner in Kiss of Death (1994), to find a meatier heavy in Cage's filmography.
Cage acts, at times, as though his head is about to explode. And not the character's head; it's Cage himself who seems in danger of self-immolation.
(The film) has a hard time settling on such simple things as characters' motivations, needs and accents (Cage's changes inexplicably midway through).
The new film has much in common with some of Herzog's crazed past masterworks like Aguirre, the Wrath of God.
Like the water snake that slithers by during the opening credits or the baby crocodile from whose point of view we observe one roadside scene, this movie is a freaky little swamp thing.
Latest News for Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
November 19, 2009:
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November 17, 2009:
Five Favorite Films with Werner Herzog
During his remarkable 40-year career, Werner Herzog has made some of world cinema's boldest films -- including Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Stroszek, Fitzcaraldo, and a remake of... More...
November 16, 2009:
Bad Lieutenant: When Werner Met Nicolas ![]()
The very idea of the movie prompted giggles from film fans and rage from director Abel Ferrara, but Werner Herzog and Nicolas Cage's collaboration on "Bad Lieutenant: Port of... More...
October 25, 2009:
Trailer & Poster review ![]()
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