Vengeance: A Love Story

It’s a strong story delivered with a little cheese (called Nicholas Cage)

So when I discovered in the opening credits that the movie is adapted from a book called Rape: a love story, I was a little taken off as the movie makes it too easy to see what’s coming next, and it was hard to digest. Ironically Nicholas Cage’s over the top cheese help to slide the discomfort down. It’s important to state that I’m not saying Cage has never pulled an Oscar worthy performance, I’m just saying this is not it, No matter how descent his hair is looking in the film (which is usually a sign that Cage is going to pull a descent performance).

Taking him out of the equation, the film is a great story about three generations of women. One was sexually assaulted and the other two need to help her cope with the situation so that she would be fit enough to put her attackers away in a court trail. Most impressed by the little girl who played Bethie, the 12 year old daughter of a beautiful young single woman, who has to grow up a little too fast thanks to the whole ordeal. It’s a performance that draws you in.

Putting Nicholas Cage back into the equation, he plays a hero cop who befriends the mother and goes the limit to see justice done for those who really need it. My whole self was a little conflicted as I saw Cage use his status as a cop to make sure rapist pay for their crimes in a Death Wish like fashion, the same way Cops have been using their status to kill black men and still roam free. Otherwise, his performance as a supporting actor (despite his billing and poster appearance) is not too shabby. However, his character feels a little incomplete at times, almost as if they added the idea of cage after the fact, and there are moments that it feels like I’m watching a cheesy b-action thriller (Does not help that Cage makes his first appearance in the film with a weak action scene)

Should also add Don Johnson’s small role as a lawyer defending the attackers in the equation. His role actually proved that the movie has potential as he was an arc in the story about the attackers prospective of the story. There could have been more depth to it, but it comes off a little flat just because of the amount of fluff in it.

So this movie had a lot a potential as the main story it seems to center on was a strong drama, but a lot of elements that may have been used to sell the movie (Cage, wink wink) kinda cheapens it a little.