Bad Lieutenant

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Year:	2009
Country of origin:	USA
Director:	Werner Herzog
Genre:	Cop gone bad.
Starring:	Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Val Kilmer
Rating:	2/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1095217/
Tagline:	The only criminal he can't catch is himself.
Favourite line:	None worth mentioning

First, let's deal with the obvious:
This bares scant resemblance to Abel Ferrara's shocking, terrifying and truly demented tale of Catholic guilt gone bad.
Director Werner Herzog utterly dismisses any connection with the past by removing all of the overt religious themes that made Ferrara's work so astonishing and, in so doing, dilutes most of the films efficacy.

The plot:
Nic 'The Stallion' Cage plays Terence McDonagh, a Detective working the streets of New Orleans in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He is an addictive sort, using his clout as an officer of the law to fuel his rabid drinking, drug taking and gambling ways, though even he is not immune to danger, which comes in the form of a group of gangsters, eager that he pay back money they believe he 'stole' from them by denying one of their pals the money shot with the prostitute he had hired, Cage's girlfriend, as it happens.
Not only that, his gambling debts have spiralled out of control so his credit is cut off, eliminating one potential avenue to get his hands on the cash.
So what does he do?
Stop-and-searches couples on bogus narcotics charges, forcing them to either hand over their illicit goods or, in one deliciously perverted scene, encouraging the female of the pair to perform a sex act with him whilst the boyfriend looks on. Can he get the money in time?
Does anyone really care?
And what are all those shots of lizards to do with anything?

Herzog is a director I have read lots about, with 'proper' critics lavishing praise after praise on him though, if this is anything to go by, he's not one for me.
Confusingly stylised and overblown with a ludicrously OTT performance from Cage - seriously, this guy can't act for shit - I'd steer clear if I were you.