Take the last 6 movies he's made, that's right 6! A normal actor may have 1 or 2 bad movies in their catalogue but 6 consecutive bad movies? That's a skill!
You've got National Treasure 2, Next, Ghost Rider, Wickerman, World trade Centre
and the ant bully. Why would any actor pick these movies? Money? Desperation?
Yes, possibly but the way I see it, Nicolas Cage does it because he is The Cage!
He does whatever the fuck he wants because he doesn't give a shit about anyone else.
Here are some of the countless reasons why Nicolas Cage is awesome:
Exhibit A:
He was born Nicolas Kim Coppola where he changed his last name to Cage inspired by the Marvel Comics character Luke Cage, a streetwise superhero.
He made the right choice. It is pretty badass
Exhibit B:
The Wickerman
Why would anyone want to do a film like this, considering the script was horrendous to begin with?
Anyone who actually sat through it can all agree that he turned this movie into something quite special. It's in the Batman and Robin level of unintentional brilliance.
Dialogue ranging from 'No not the bees, Arghh my eyes argh my eyes!" and "No not my legs! Argh my legs!" is undeniably genius. Plus he wails on not 1, not 2 but 3 women! He makes a fantastic bad movie! He knows it!
Take this video as an example:
Top 10 moments
It is also evident that the man clearly cannot run. That's badass.
Exhibit C:
Ghost Rider
If I was offered to be Ghost Rider in a movie I'd jump right on it, and I'm sure most of you out there would too. But you know a movie is going to be bad if it is going to be directed by the man who made Daredevil. However The Cage is not bothered by this, he purposely hams up the performance with cheesy lines and acting.
If you think I'm basing this all on assumptions, why would anyone act like this and think it's good?
Ghost Rider Transformation
He knows he's in a bad movie and he makes it enjoyable for the rest of us.
Exhibit D:
Why does everyone love Samuel L Jackson?
Is it because he's black?
Or is it because he eats up every scene he's in no matter how bad or good the movie is. The correct answer is all of the above.
I'm going to put this one out there and say that I think Nicolas Cage is the white Samuel L Jackson. Both actors have both fantastic and shockingly bad movies. Come to think of it apart from Pulp Fiction and Die hard 3, I personally believe that Nicolas Cage has starred in better films overall than Samuel L Jackson. I find Nicolas Cages brilliance much more subtle. An example of this is Samuel L Jackson yells in pretty much every movie while Nicolas Cage has little subtle moments as presented in the top 10 moments of Wickerman. Now I'm not saying I like The Cage more than Samuel. I believe that Nicolas has a place in the so bad it's good level of actors. I believe that both have completely different strengths in engaging their fans.
Lets look at a quick, vague rundown at their filmography:
Samuel L Jackson:
Good - Pulp Fiction, Unbreakable, Die Hard 3, Black Snake Moan
Bad - The Man, xXx 1 and 2, S.W.A.T, Basic, Farce of the Penguins, Deep Blue Sea
Nicolas Cage:
Good - Adaptation, Bringing out the dead, Lord of War, The Weatherman, Leaving Las Vegas (most of his earlier films)...
Bad - Most of his later ones
Both have great and terrible films, while Pulp Fiction is the best film out of all the movies listed. It should be noted that Nicolas Cage has the fantastically well written and acted Adaptation and Bringing out the dead.
Exhibit E:
Clearly the man is taking the piss. There is no other reason why they chose him to do this. It's because the man does not take himself seriously. He is damn brilliant!
Werewolf Women of the SS
I'm not forcing anyone to like him, if you hate him, you hate him. I still stand by that The Cage has subtle brilliance presented in both great and terrible films.
And if you're not convinced yet
His next film:
Nuff said.
4 comments:
A fine article, Sam. Sadly though, an argument punctuated with buzzwords like 'badass' and 'unintentional brilliance' doesn't convince me of "The Cage's" merit. Da Vinci didn't paint that lemon lipped bitch with the intention of it being just another portrait. And even if he did, he wouldn't have done it with that ingratiating smirk that curls up the left side of his mouth, as Nicolas Cage does.
Haha very good. He does have a smug face. According to Phil he wanted to be Superman. Now that is something I would pay to see!
Haha, he did wanna be superman. Back in the 90s when they had planned to revamp it up then. I think he's just a bit of a doofus. Like maybe he got into his Con Air character, and never left it.
I said, put the bunny back in the box
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