EDGE San Francisco

"BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL -- NEW ORLEANS" -- He’s been a REALLY BAD boy! =

MY rating: 8 of 10 stars.

As you have probably heard, this film has essentially NOTHING to directly do with the previous 1992 Abel Ferrara film of the same general title (altho the writers of that are listed in the IMDB credits as "screenplay" people re this, possibly for legal reasons)...

... As this film starts, Hurricane Katrina has started to affect New Orleans, with a snake swimming in the flooded basement of a mainly-deserted jail of a Police station where Lieutenant Terence McDonagh (NICOLAS CAGE) & his partner Stevie Pruit (VAL KILMER) are rummaging thru other peoples’ lockers for their own benefit...

... One prisoner remains behind bars in the basement. Showing a sadly-typical "morality" we’ll be seeing thruout the film, Val wants to let the prisoner DROWN in the rising water, rather than risk their lives jumping in the fetid water to free him. But, for some reason, Nic decides to leap in to SAVE the desperate captive by opening the jail door to free him...

... Not long after that, Nic (who suffers from regular BACK pains for which he habitually abuses the medication he takes) goes to visit a longtime girlfriend, Frankie Donnenfeld (EVA MENDES). She’s a HOOKER, & he knows what she "wants"-- namely, some of the COCAINE he’s conveniently pilfered for the two of them...

... Nic’s behavior is not an aberration-- it’s the MODUS OPERANDI of his life (as we’re shown time & again)... While Val seems to know the "gist" of Nic’s actions, his other co-workers -- such as underling Armand Benoit (SHAWN HATOSY) -- are either "OBLIVIOUS" of it and / or don’t CARE (or want to "cover-up" what one of their "own" is doing)... His superiors are so "unobservant", they actually give Nic an AWARD for his "outstanding" police "work"...

... At one point, Nic goes to a house investigate the scene of multiple killings in what is clearly a drug-related execution. Since the murders involved a couple of kids, the Police feel a lot of "heat" from the public to solve the crime. Nic spends considerable time tracking down the facts of the assault, in the midst of his RIP-OFFS of drugs, sexual blackmail, running up gambling debts with Ned Schoenholtz (played by BRAD DOURIF), etc....

... The periodic investigation work done by Nic reveals that there may have been an eye-witness to the multiple murders, & he thus searches for the delivery boy in question, Daryl (DENZEL WHITAKER). That leads him to the boy’s grandmother, Binnie Rogers (IRMA P. HALL), going to an assisted living home where she’s helping an elderly patient. He’s very abrupt & menacing towards the two women, demanding they reveal where the boy is hiding, causing strong complaints from the patient...

... After he finds the boy, he takes him with Eva to a gambling area in nearby Biloxi. Denzel soon runs away, which causes increasingly-crazed Nic to return to the Assisted Living home where he physically THREATENS Irma & her patient, to try to get them to reveal where the boy has gone (which later leads to some attempted "political" retaliation from the ladies)...

... Things keep spinning more & more out of Nic’s control. He gets involved with a white guy Mundt (MICHAEL SHANNON), a bunch of high-level drug dealers (such as gang leader "Big Fate", played by ALVIN NATHANIEL "XZIBIT" JOINER), a gang he owes gambling money to, & others. At various points, he goes to visit his alcoholic ex-cop father Pat (TOM BOWER) & his lady friend Genevieve (JENNIFER COOLIDGE)...

... Does all this sound like an "ad" to increase "interest" in advancing MENTAL HEALTH?!... Let me assure you, very little here seems "connected" to true human health of ANY kind, as "symbolically" shown by the engaging close-up shots of IGUANAS & ALLIGATORS (shot by Herzog himself)...

... Will Nic succeed in forcing a pharmacy to give him a prescription?... Can he get by on 1½ hours of sleep over "3 days"... Will more trouble be caused at "Gator’s Retreat"?... Will it do any good for Nic to fight with the D.A. Jerimiah Goodhusband (LANCE E. NICHOLS)?...

... Will Nic’s attempt to blackmail a football player help him win much-needed money?... Will a crook be happy with a 25% cut of drugs?... Will Genevieve go to Rehab?... Will Nic be given any new "AWARDS" for what he "accomplishes"?... Do FISH have dreams?... This movie will answer ALL those questions (& pose a bunch of others)!...

... The Lieutenant HIMSELF is "Bad", but the FILM itself is Good in a FASCINATING way-- an IM-"MORALITY" tale of drugs, sex, SHOCK & roll, enthusiastically delineating the evolving "downward-spiral" of Nic & the craziness that surrounds him & his world...

... Cage is in PEAK form at playing "CRAZY", in a "Leaving Las Vegas"-ish vein (as friend Tim commented), which is why I rated the movie as I did...