Lest We Forget: The Brilliance of Nicolas Cage

The great Sean Penn fired the first shot in what would become an unending barrage against his former co-star and friend. “Nic Cage is no longer an actor,” Penn said, in reference to Cage’s ridiculously high output of low-quality films. Since then, Cage has been transformed into a whipping boy for both critics and keyboard movie junkies alike.

Everyone seems to spend a lot of time trashing the actor due to his wildly off-the-wall film choices and out-of-his-mind performances, but no one wants to use that energy to remember nor praise the great character actor that Nicolas Cage is and has always been.

I will admit, Nic makes it more difficult year by year and film by film, with much of his recent work going straight to On Demand and existing as beyond subpar. But for every bad film he does these days, and for whatever the reasons may be (big paychecks, alimony, and tax troubles have all been mentioned as reasons for his strange choices of scripts), he will do a work that reminds us of his excellence.

For every silly moment of Ghost Rider there is the involving character study, Joe. While there is a Left Behind, there is also Paul Schrader’s Dog Eat Dog. The bad taste of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice can be washed away with the terrific Mandy. And in 2021, Cage’s absolute worst film, the insipid Willy’s Wonderland can be…