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

.Genre: Crime/Action/Drama

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Xzibit, Tom Bower, Jennifer Coolidge, Val Kilmer

A New Orleans police sergeant rescues a prisoner when hurricane Katrina hit the city and the prison cells were fast filling with water. Terence McDonagh (Cage) was later promoted to Lieutenant for his act of bravery but also caused permanent damage to his spine whilst rescuing the prisoner. After having to go on life-long painkillers, Terence starts becoming a drug addict and a regular consumer of cocaine, crack and marijuana. His dope comes from a hooker, Frankie (Mendes) who is also his girlfriend and he is extremely protective of her. When five illegal immigrants from Senegal are executed, Terence is assigned to the case and find out who did the fateful murder. With Terence increasingly using his power to obtain drugs and bully people, he falls into more and more trouble which slowly starts interfering with his personal as well as professional life. The movie might come across as just another cop story, which it is, but it still has the edge that makes it different from the rest. A doped-up, corrupt and disrespectful cop whose life is in a mess and gets even more messier can make a decent storyline. The biggest let down in the movie was Nicholas Cage and his style of acting. He just seemed to take too much screen presence and after a point becomes difficult to watch. Although he does add the limp and hunchback, it seems to be inconsistent in appearance. The movie borrows its title from a 1992 film, although the makers of the movie do not classify it as a sequel or a re-make but a 're-thought' of how they think the movie should have been. Not a movie to be proud of but a decent cop story to watch, but only once.

Thumbs up: A bit different from the rest

Thumbs down: Nicholas Cage's extra screen presence

Rating: 6.0/10