Ranking: Nicolas Cage's Straight-To-Video Movies From Worst To Best

5. Dying Of The Light (2014)

Nic Cage The Trust
Lionsgate

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 9%

When you've got Paul Schrader, the man behind several Scorsese classics such as Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, writing your movie, it should be pretty good, right? Wrong.

Dying of the Light became infamous long before its release due to a war between Schrader and producers, who reportedly re-edited, re-mixed and colour-timed the movie without his input.

As a response, Schrader along with Cage, co-star Anton Yelchin and executive producer Nicolas Winding Refn all posted pictures of themselves wearing shirts that noted their non-disparagement clauses, allowing them to speak out without violating their contracts.

Though it's hard to know whether or not Schrader's vision would have been much better, the released version is certainly a mess, with Cage playing an aging CIA operative who seeks to close a case that's been haunting him for decades.

It's extremely dull police procedural fodder, and Cage's work isn't zany enough to make the movie even perversely enjoyable.

Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.