The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

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The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

April 26th 2010 23:59

Terence McDonagh is a drug- and gambling-addled detective in post-Katrina New Orleans investigating the killing of five Senegalese immigrants. That’s the synopsis to Werner Herzog’s shameful slide into a steaming pile of mediocrity, or worse. Apart from the criminal behaviour of the lawman, his badge position and part of the title, it bears absolutely no resemblance to Abel Ferrara’s searing cult classic portrait, Bad Lieutenant (1992).

The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans Nicolas Cage

Nicolas Cage wonders if his haircut and accent will upstage him once again

The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009, God, I hate that clumsy-ass title) is like bad television: visually dull with a tedious, un-engaging narrative, and lifeless, unremarkable characters. Worse still, the movie has no style or atmosphere whatsoever. I can’t believe this is the same director who made the masterfully creepy remake of Nosferatu (1979), the bravura studies of madness and obsession, Aguire, Wrath of God and Fitzcarraldo, or even those documentaries on the grotesque beauty of the Earth’s wilderness, such as Grizzly Man and Encounters at the End of the World.

The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans Eva Mendes and Nicolas Cage

Nicolas Cage gives Eva Mendes an actor's pep talk

Apparently Abel Ferrara was incensed when he learnt that Herzog claimed he’d never seen the original Bad Lieutenant, nor had he heard of Abel Ferrara. Herzog had been sent the original script, like the morality play, and decided it was up his alley. He re-locates the story to New Orleans from New York City and ends up promoting his tortured titular character to Captain. Where’s the humanity?

The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans Nicolas Cage, Val Kilmer

Good cop, bad cop, criminal in the middle

Nicolas Cage plays the rogue detective with an insatiable taste for confiscated coke and smack and a dedicated penchant to putting drug money on doomed basketball and baseball games. Cage, nursing a crooked shoulder, ill-fitting suit, and (another) bad haircut, delivers a performance that veers toward a parody of James Cagney playing Quasimodo. He commands none of the vile entrenched charisma that made Harvey Keitel’s role In Ferrara’s movie so brilliant. But I should stop comparing the two movies. As a stand alone, Herzog’s effort is irretrievably flawed. Apparently it’s meant to be viewed as a black comedy. I’m a big fan of farce, satire, irony and sarcasm; but I sniggered not once during Herzog’s bad joke.

The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans Nicolas Cage and Fairuza Balk

Any port in a storm for Fairuza Balk

As a police drama the tension is only ramped up slightly during a scene in the last quarter; a confrontation between two groups of drug crims and McDonagh in the middle. Meanwhile, Eva Mendes, Brad Dourif, Michael Shannon, Val Kilmer, and Fairuza Balk (where in the Hell has she been?!) are relegated to the sidelines in utterly thankless roles. What were they thinking? I guess they came on-board the production as Herzog admirers.

Lizard time

One of my biggest annoyances is Herzog’s indulgent moments of surrealism (his egocentric stamp); an extreme close-up of a crocodile at the side of the road surveying a crash scene then waddling off back toward the Louisiana everglades, an extreme flared-out close-up of two large iguanas (?) on a table-top during a police stake-out, whilst an out-of-focus McDonagh tries to stare them down, or the embodied soul of a murdered drug crime boss breakdancing (?!), whilst another large lizard wanders through the scene and McDonagh gazes on. I acknowledge Herzog’s attempt at drug-addled symbolism, but it’s so ill-conceived and plain incongruous with the rest of the movie’s tone that it grates something chronic.

Dream with the fishes

As for the ending; the less said the better. Did I miss the point, I don't think so. Yes, I will make one last comparison to Ferrara, only because Ferrara actually captured a masterful sense of dramatic irony at the end of his movie, which eludes Herzog throughout his post-Hurricane disaster zone. Herzog’s ending is frayed, vague, pointless, and dramatically bereft. I can’t believe Filmink magazine gave this movie four-and-a-half stars, they were star-struck, shell-shocked, and deluded, obviously.

If only the movie was as striking and interesting as this alternate poster

Here's the cable teaser trailer:

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

4 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Michaelie

April 27th 2010 06:30

Flick Wit

Oh, but I wish I had read this before I bought it for my brother for his birthday! He wanted Blu-Ray DVDs and I was in a hurry so I grabbed Clerks and this - obviously should have put more thought into it, though he does like Nicolas Cage, so maybe he will enjoy it anyway *she says with doubt*.

Having read your review but not having yet seen this, am perplexed by the iguana factor also!

Mich

Comment by JohnDoe

May 4th 2010 02:04

Film & TV on DVD

We all love the original but...

This one has that "traffic accident" appeal for me...the combination of Herzog and Cage just too eccentric to resist.

Still, once I see it maybe the reptilian tune will change.

Comment by Bryn

May 4th 2010 04:54

Horrorphile

JD, oh, this one really hit a raw nerve with me, especially after reading that Erin Free gave it four-and-a-half stars in Filmink. Was he on the crack pipe as well?? I love many of Herzog's movies, and I love many of Cage's early movies, but this is more than a traffic accident, it's interminably boring. At least traffic accidents have a morbid allure.