Nicolas Cage has been on an interesting streak for the last couple of years offering up some great flicks and some strange choices that don’t always work. Coming off his last crazed awesome flick Mom and Dad he is heading into a thriller with the film Looking Glass co-starring Robin Tunney and Marc Blucas with director Tim Hunter at the helm. Does this old school thriller bring something fresh to the genre or will it not be worth peeping on?

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Looking Glass follows Ray who must save his wife and himself from a gruesome secret connected to a motel and the strange people who visit there. I knew nothing about this film going in so enjoyed seeing it unfold despite it being all over the place at times. This is a great role for Cage who does a great job when it requires him to be overly paranoid or suspicious while still being believable as a normal guy. Tunney is good here too as she has to try to keep it together despite going through some emotional issues which play into the film at times. Where this aspect confused me it never really made sense to why this whole side story was all that necessary outside of being the catalyst for the move. The rest of the emotional struggle here is kind of wasted in what the real story is.

 

The meat of the story felt like something that would have come from Hitchcock and has everything it needed to be really compelling and great, but still played it too safe. Make no mistake there are some strange sexual situations and violence, but it never felt like it went all in to push that envelope to make it as creepy and out there as it really wanted to be. There are couple of really great moments with Cage getting to do his always great to watch freak out, but even that scene felt like it was out of place.   

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In the end this film offers up some good and bad that makes the overall film unbalanced, but still manages to be intriguing. There are some interesting twists and turns that while are predictable still make it a lot of fun. Check it out and decide for yourself if you are a fan of Cage or the thriller genre. It might work for you and it might not, but there is no denying the strangeness of it all.

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