Joel Kinnaman is on his way to the hospital to be with his wife who is in labor. While in the parking garage, he is carjacked by a psycho played by Nicolas Cage who forces him at gunpoint to drive around Las Vegas. On the road, the pair engage in cat and mouse mind games as Joel tries to keep his cool and outwit his wily captor so he can see his wife and baby.
Sympathy for the Devil is essentially a two-character movie, but it helps that its two leads are well cast. Kinnaman does a fine job as the squirrelly, mild-mannered family man who is under the thumb of an unpredictable nut job. As unpredictable nut jobs go, you can’t do much better than Nicolas Cage. Sporting a bad red dye job and a crimson velvet jacket to match, he’s a tad restrained. Since this is Nicolas Cage we’re talking about here, “a tad restrained” means he speaks in an overblown Boston accent, randomly imitates Edward G. Robinson, has a weird soliloquy where he attributes his lifelong sinus problems to a literal childhood boogeyman he calls “The Mucus Man”, and sings and dances to “I Love the Night Life” in a diner.
While there are sparks here and there between Cage and Kinnaman, there aren’t exactly any fireworks on display. The are moments where the movie threatens to catch fire (the aforementioned impromptu disco dance scene), but for the most part, the drama is surprisingly inert. There’s obviously a big secret Cage is holding back and it’s plain to see that Kinnaman isn’t exactly the family man he claims to be. Unfortunately, the film drags its feet when it comes to doling out its characters motivations. Because of that, it just boils down to a bunch of scenes of Cage verbally abusing Kinnaman.
And for a while, it works. After two solid acts, the final half-hour is a bit of a washout. It doesn’t help that the big secret is predictable and the reveal lacks punch. For a movie that’s essentially two guys in a car for most of the running time, the ride is smooth enough, even if the destination leaves something to be desired.
No comments:
Post a Comment