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Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans (2009)

November. 20,2009
|
6.6
|
R
| Drama Crime

Terrence McDonagh is a New Orleans Police sergeant, who recieves a medal and a promotion to lieutenant for heroism during Hurricane Katrina. Due to his heroic act, McDonagh injures his back and becomes addicted to prescription pain medication. He then finds himself involved with a drug dealer who is suspected of murdering a family of African immigrants.

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elshikh4
2009/11/20

Name one thing that forces you to continue watching this ? The answer is : the desire of seeing "how low can it go ?!"Don't you ever believe the yak about it as realistic, character study, social commentary, and sophisticated arty piece of cinema. It's baloney; and I mean this movie along with that talk !Someone even said that this is a wonderful black comedy. Baby, this movie isn't, your title is !In fact, this movie could be nothing but a comedy gone wrong. Though in terms of comedy, and long titles, The Bad Lieutenant Port of Call - New Orleans (2009) reminded me of Juiskers II : The Sequel with No Prequel (2006), and Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth (2000). Because this may be a parody of its original. However, comedy without timing isn't comedy !In a June 2008 interview with The Guardian, Abel Ferrara, who directed and co-wrote the original Bad Lieutenant, said that finding out his movie was being remade was "a horrible feeling", "like when you get robbed". He also wondered how Nicolas Cage "can even have the nerve to play Harvey Keitel", and called screenwriter William M. Finkelstein an idiot. Putting in mind how the remake turned out to be, I couldn't agree more !Fairly, this is a movie that tried so seriously to be something bigger than its original, and itself, but didn't have the abilities, hence ended up as a really bad joke. Bad Lieutenant, bad movie, and - with tons of pointless remakes lately - bad Hollywood.

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freemantle_uk
2009/11/21

The idea of remakes are normally abhorrent to film fans, a sign that there is a lack of originality or ideas and normally results in the question why bother. However the 2009 version of Bad Lieutenant had a better chance then it most - it was directed German auteur Werner Herzog and had cast figuring Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Val Kilmer and rapper Xzibit.Set during the aftermath of Hurricane Karina Terence McDonagh is considered a hero for saving a criminal and promoted to police lieutenant. However, he has also become addicted to a variety of narcotics. Terence is assigned to investigate a gang murder of a immigrant drug dealer and his family whilst he also has to battle all problems involving finding drugs, getting in debt with his bookie and crossing powerful people.The original Bad Lieutenant was a dark, grimy film that was covered in Catholic iconography and Harvey Kietel gave a fantastic performance as the unnamed Lieutenant. It was an underrated gem from 90s. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is a remake in the loosest sense - sharing a similar premise and telling its own story. Herzog even claimed his version wasn't a remake because he never heard of the original.The 1992 version was a more akin to a film like Taxi Driver or Serpico, a film that showed New York to be a cesspool of crime and was shot in a grounded style. The Werzog version is a much more glossy film, having a score that sounds like a film noir detective story and takes away most of the grit of the original. Despite the quality of the director the 2009 film was more a run-in-the-mill story, taking away the themes of Catholic guilt and redemption that were prominent in the 1992 version. Some of the African migrants are shown to be Catholic which could have been an interesting avenue to go down especially since African-Americans are normally Baptists but nothing much was done with this.Both films also have a surreal edge, the 1992 version being based on the Lieutenant's Catholic guilt so had a logic to it. In the 2009 version it was based on Terence's drug addiction which results in the character seeing reptiles that no one else can. The idea is Terence's addiction is making him loose grip with reality, but these moment really do is allow Nicolas Cage to do his maniac Nic Cage performance - it is the stereotype of what people would expect from Cage. There is also a theme of characters getting clean from their vices but this is underdeveloped and undeserved.The 2009 version was highly praised by critics, it has a 87% rating compared to the original's 77% (amidst from a lower review count) - but audiences are more hostile towards the film. It is a case where critics praised a film because of its director's reputation rather than the quality of the film itself. 'Port of Call' is a more mainstream effort form Werzog but it lacks the complexity of the original and a plays like a neutered version. If this had been directed by a lesser known director this version would not have been so well received.This version is at its best during the midpoint when Terence is at his lowest because professionally and personally is building up against him. He is getting what he deserves and this is when the film has it biggest drive because everything in Terence's is colliding to each other.As a bad cop movie 'Port of Call' is a weak entry and swallow in its writing and character development. Try the original or the Scottish set Filth which shows a self-serving cop going to the edge because of his addictions and personal problems.

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grizzledgeezer
2009/11/22

I've left this film unrated because it's either a very bad film, or a very good one, and I can't decide -- rationally or emotionally.It's billed as a "rethinking" of the Ferrara/Keitel "Bad Lieutenant". The overall story is the same -- a vice-addicted policeman investigating an horrific crime -- and it reuses many of the same scenes and situations. The original was and remains a classic, so I suppose there was no point in "rethinking" it without a drastic change of tone. I agree with those who see it as black comedy, with a nominally happy/redemptive ending.We first note the comedy when a physically and mentally disheveled Cage enters his boss's office, and is asked "Do you think you can handle this case?" Cage pulls his jacket open -- exposing a huge .44 Magnum shoved cowboy-style under his belt -- and declaims "Why shouldn't I?" I laughed out loud.A hunched-from-back-pain Cage stumbles through most of the film resembling a cross between Ed Sullivan and Detective Fish. (Really.) The problem isn't Cage's performance (he is, when he wants to be, an exceptional actor), but the failure of the other characters -- especially his boss -- to see that he is Thoroughly & Completely F***ed Up. (No doubt they would have no problem with Bela Lugosi running a day-care center.) This is mostly Herzog's fault, for not eliciting more-plausible performances from the cast.On the other hand, I like the fact we see Cage's descent. He starts off a decent (if cynical) cop whose back is injured saving a prisoner from Katrina's flood waters. He's in near-continuous pain, and has zero desire to take pain killers -- but he has to, and his fall begins. The Capra-esque ending resolves all of Cage's police problems. The prisoner he saved -- now reformed -- comforts Cage and (apparently) turns him away from drugs."The Bad Lieutenant" falls in the "see it and decide for yourself" category.

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alex-kirkby
2009/11/23

Big actors like Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis, Jason Statham, Will Smith, Nicolas Cage and many others all have there good films, there OK films and there are bad films. Bad Lieutenant is one of Nicolas Cages OK films. I have never seen the original film and I only watched this only because Nicolas Cage was in it. The film is about a police lieutenant who has bad back pain and the medication from the doctor is not helping so he starts taking drugs, having sex with young fit girls on the street and mixing with the wrong kind of people. The film had its ups and downs, rocky storyline and there were parts in the film i didn't think were needed like the odd 5 minutes of stupid music and funny camera angles well staring at a lizard or a snake and even a stupid little scene after someone got killed and there soul is brake dancing right next to it's body, why did they put that in what was the point of adding this in why did they put this in, it was like they were trying to put step up 2 the streets and Bad Lieutenant together I couldn't understand why they added this. Apart from that the film was OK, the action is good, so is the acting and the story is rocky and is really slow at times. The film also stars the very hot Eva Mendes and the famous ex Batman actor Val Kilmer. I gave the film a 7/10 it was OK but could if been a lot better.

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