Anyone on the hunt for a balls out, howl at the moon Nicolas Cage performance need look no further than Werner Herzog's 2009 re-imagining of the cult classic Harvey Keitel film Bad Lieutenant. Herzog's vision, subtitled Port Of Call New Orleans, has nothing at all to do with the original film bar using the concept of a corrupt policeman going off the rails. The film features a top notch supporting cast including Eva Mendes (who, of course, also starred with Cage in the lamentable Ghost Rider), Brad Dourif, Michael Shannon and Val Kilmer in one of his last roles that didn't head straight to the bottom shelf of the local video shop. The movie really is a showcase for Cage's brand of lunacy though, and it is undoubtedly one of his greatest performances. He is simultaneously hilarious, petrifying, sympathetic and reprehensible, often in the same scene. It is obvious that he was given free reign by Herzog (another man who has been labelled as an eccentric, at the very least) and this carte blanche leads him to take chances with the character of Terence McDonagh that would never have been allowed in a more traditional Hollywood setting. McDonagh suffers from a back injury for most of the film, and Cage masterfully portrays a man who seems to be losing his mind, strung out on drugs and pain pills. The film won Cage rave reviews, with many critics heralding it as a return to form, but unfortunately the film's madhouse nature prevented him from attaining an Academy Award nomination.
