Review of Seeking Justice (2011) by Hannah S — 18 Mar 2012

Three months into 2012 and we've already been blessed with two movies starring Nicolas Cage. His return to New Orleans should have been spectacular and something borderline epic since Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans featured Cage at his craziest yet was able to showcase that in this bizarre and intriguing way. Despite most critics and people in general downright hating Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, everyone should be able to agree that it was not only a higher production but a better movie overall in comparison to Seeking Justice.

Seeking Justice is kind of like combining The Adjustment Bureau and any Steven Segal movie that wasn't released in theaters with a third of its budget and none of its creativity. For Nicolas Cage, it seems like it's just another absurd role amongst a stack of low grade movies that'd make B-movies blush, but it feels like an odd choice for Guy Pearce. Cage has had this cheese factor to him for years now. Most people can't even look at him without automatically thinking of him punching old women in the face, dressing up in a bear costume, getting bees shoved in every orafice in his face, or some other ridiculous moment from The Wicker Man. Pearce has made a name for himself in small supporting roles lately; The Road, The Hurt Locker, and Animal Kingdom are a few examples. Pearce usually picks some pretty fantastic projects to be a part of and while Simon is similar to Roy Clayton from Traitor and Pearce is able to slide into Simon's shoes with ease, but Seeking Justice feels ridiculously cheap without much of a payoff.

Nicolas Cage isn't his out of control, fly-off-the-handle-at-a-moment's-notice self here. He's calm and more collected, at least until his wife Laura (played by January Jones) is beaten to a bloody pulp. Then Cage is noticeably upset. It doesn't seem to be just because his wife was almost killed. Cage seems legitimately irritated and frustrated; almost as if he doesn't want to be there. If Nicolas Cage doesn't want to stick around of whatever terrible movie he's chosen to be a part of, then buckle up because you're in for a special treat.

But as always you can count on Cage for some downright ridiculousness and illogical nonsense the likes of which have been seen before but can't be found anywhere else but in a Nicolas Cage movie. That weird candy machine staredown that makes things even more suspicious and awkward and feels like it lasts for an eternity is a great place to start. Just because it's called "The Forever bar" and looks like it was stolen out of Willy Wonka's factory doesn't mean it should actually last forever. The prime example though is when Cage walks into a fancy hotel completely underdressed. He's a wanted man at this point; his face plastered all over the city. To look less conspicuous Cage puts a nicer jacket OVER his existing one then walks around in a relieved state as if he just pulled a Houdini on all of New Orleans. Throw in his weird old man shuffle that's essentially jiggling while power walking as the camera bounces around to make it look like he's running faster than he is and you have a trifecta of what in the blue hell is going on here?

The only thing Seeking Justice accomplishes is make you feel jealous over the fact that Nicolas Cage was never your teacher while you were in school talking about punching somebody in the face (before physically doing so). Seeking Justice looks and feels like a direct to video release. Its camera work feels like a small step up from underground pornography and Nicolas Cage and his quirky shenanigans are the best part of the movie as you'll be laughing like crazy because it's so bad. This secret organization is like a less entertaining version of the Stonecutters from "The Simpsons." Seeking Justice is just a poor excuse of a theatrically released movie that will leave you laughing in disbelief for ever sitting down to see it in the first place.