The Bad Lieutenant-Port of New Orleans

“The Bad Lieutenant-Port of New Orleans” is a remake of the Harvey Keitel classic and stars Nicholas Cage, Eve Mendes and Val Kilmer in this 2 hour and 10 minute film written by William Finkelstein and directed by Werner Herzog. Unlike the original’s NYC location, this film takes place in post-Katrina New Orleans and depicts the saga of a rogue police officer embroiled in all of the problems a law enforcement officer can possibly imagine. Mr. Cage, as a drug addicted cop, gives a superb performance and either goes close to or crosses the line between great acting and overacting, with the distinction quite difficult to delineate in many of his scenes. Muddled amidst a complex and complicated series of events, the picture loses much of its credibility as its conclusion conveniently accommodates all of the problems which arose in the preceding 2 hours of viewing. One gets the feeling that in the screening of the film prior to distribution, the comments of the viewers prompted script changes to make things “work out”. I give the film 2 and ½ stars with a notation that without Mr. Cage’s performance, it would have received much less.