No one is better at this kind of performance than Nicolas Cage. He's a fearless actor. He doesn't care if you think he goes over the top. If a film calls for it, he will crawl to the top hand over hand with bleeding fingernails.
91
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Bad Lieutenant doesn't go where you expect, but it has a stubborn, trippy logic.
80
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Herzog deserves the lion's share of the credit for the movie's quality, but Port of Call New Orleans is also a comeback for Cage.
70
The Hollywood ReporterRay Bennett
The Hollywood ReporterRay Bennett
There is a lot of very black humor; and it develops, somewhat surprisingly, into something suggesting a kind of cheerful pessimism.
Comparisons to the original Bad Lieutenant are unnecessary; Port of Call New Orleans can stand - and fall - on its own merits, inconsistent though they may be.
Cage is not quite Aguirre or Fitzcarraldo in the Big Easy. But his performance hits all the right mythopoetic beats, rising above the thin script and late-night-cable aesthetic.
50
Premiere
Premiere
Those expecting a return to the depravity and menace of Abel Ferrara’s 1992 notorious original will be disappointed.
50
VarietyTodd McCarthy
VarietyTodd McCarthy
The film is offbeat, silly, disarming and loopy all at the same time, and viewers will decide to ride with that or just give up on it, according to mood and disposition.
If there’s a sure thing in movies, it’s that if you cast Nicolas Cage in a role in which he goes crazy, he’ll rise to the occasion and keep on rising until he seems even loonier than his character.
50
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Instead of plumbing the depths of spiritual degradation, Herzog's movie is--largely due to Cage's performance--almost fun.