Review of Rage (2014) by Liam C — 05 May 2014

So soon after Joe and there is already another Nicolas Cage movie that is released, whoever is doing the marketing for these things needs to re-think what they're doing because I laughed when I heard this was already out in some countries.

This is a prime example of why I think its very important to watch a movie from start to finish. Its a slow build up, nothing special but then it just builds up and builds up until the explosive finale that actually throws a few welcome, albeit unexpected, twists and turns our way before fading out to a very reflective and surprisingly downbeat ending. It's not going to change your life but the movie won't end how you think it will.

Although, from the trailers it does indeed suggest that their will be a lot of action involved and oh boy is there ever. Each scene that has action in it is hard hitting, expertly shot and exciting to watch. There is something so fulfilling about seeing Nicolas Cage going around kicking ass that is so much fun to watch, even if it doesn't make much sense. This movie isn't for the squeamish though, the things the characters do to one another, while I wouldn't say its particularly graphic you know what you're looking at when it happens. The movie has a nice contrast of scenes of people actually talking, which allows the audience to breath between the action and while there is some development with the twists and turns that this movie offers but besides that what you see is what you get, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but its something to comment on.

Going back onto a point I made earlier, Nicolas Cage in this movie... Wow. Maybe it helps that I only saw Joe a week ago but I was thinking to myself while I was watching this, Nicolas Cage REALLY is one of the best actors who has ever worked in Hollywood. In Joe he's very quiet, thoughtful and damaged but in this he's very loud and emotional. I don't know how he does it but he manages to bring new things to this character even if its something small like talking over people because he's having an argument with them. At the start of the movie he seems relatively calm- he is the every man. But as the movie keeps progressing his old ways seem to return to him until he fully unleashes as you can see in the image above. Paul definitely did some stupid things, for example he keeps punching someone while telling them not to die, does that really sound like that makes sense to you? Briefly talking about other actors, its nice to see Danny Glover in something again and Peter Stormare is always a treat to see, he manages to play all his characters differently even if he is in a film for about five minutes. The best way I can describe Paul Maguire is if you took Terence McDonagh and Castor Troy and put them together,and with that you can guess what you're in for... Crazy Nic Cage!!!

Sometimes I questioned what I saw, I won't say too much but for example someone shoots someone in public, twice, with no one noticing, its little things like that, that made me question the movie but nothing major happened to ruin the experience for me, like a plot hole. While I don't doubt that things that transpire in Tokarev happen in real life, with the vigilante group going around killing people, I don't think they'd be able to evade the cops for as much as they did, especially because they weren't exactly quiet about what they did or even cover themselves up after they do a crime, they seem to go into a club, kill people and just leave and no one ever tracks them down or puts two and two together. Considering the dark tone of the movie it seems like these things would be addressed even with the fact its just an action movie. The direction was very frantic also, after about 30 minutes passed the movie just went on nitro and kept getting more and more hectic until the ending, with occasional pit stops along the way.

I am not a movie snob, I don't go into an action movie ready to hate it because it won't stimulate my brain similarly I wouldn't watch 'Inception' and then complain by saying it didn't make me laugh. Tokarev is an action movie, you watch it to entertain you, things blow up and people fight and then it finished but not before offering some new storylines and some things that I didn't see coming which was welcomed. While I did notice some things that didn't make 100% sense, I didn't just hate the movie from that point on and deem it as rubbish. At the end of the day was it fun? Yes. Did I enjoy it? Yes. So its job is complete. It definitely seems like an action movie done right and I've been saying that since day one, the action hits hard and you really get into it. It isn't art but it didn't try to be, it knew what it was and ran with it and its a nice movie to add to the Nicolas Cage filmography. Using Nicolas Cage movies only, the best way I can describe it is: Seeking Justice + Stolen + Bangkok Dangerous x Kick-Ass = Tokarev and if that sounds appealing to you, then go for it!