Sympathy For The Devil review by Bobby Blakey
Nic Cage has been on another upswing as of late with some great films including Willy’ Wonderland, PIG, Renfield, the hit film The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and most recently Butcher’s Crossing. Now he is teaming up with The Secrets We Keep director Yuval Adler for the film Sympathy For The Devil alongside Joel Kinnaman who also starred in The Secrets We Keep. Could this film keep the streak alive, or will it be vengeance not worth taking?
Sympathy For The Devil follows a man who finds himself in a high-stakes game of cat and mouse where it becomes clear that not everything is as it seems after being forced to drive a mysterious passenger at gunpoint.
The trailer for this film promised one of those over-the-top Cage performances that I love so much, and it gave us just that. This is a very simple premise that allows them to keep the focus almost 100% on Cage and Kinnaman. The tension between them sets the tone and mystery as it unfolds through a series of violence and chaotic humored road trip. The two of them coming together seems so random and out there initially, but you figure there is clearly more going on early on.
There are so many great moments in this film all thanks to the insanity of Cage’s performance. He is a man unhinged and shows every bit of it. Some of the best moments of his performance are the subtle nuances and attitude he brings. He is insane and impassioned all wrapped up in a straight jacket and a mission. Kinnaman is the straight man and stays stoic most of the time just trying to survive the ordeal. He brings random moments of intensity and action that keeps you guessing about the real nature of what is going on.
For some reason I originally thought this film was something more supernatural in tone, but it is far from that. It is so much more entertaining than I had expected and loved it. These two stars are great together and really dial into these roles bringing their A game. There is plenty of banter, shooting, head butts and everything in between to keep these two at odds for the entire run time of the flick and all of it works.
I really dug this flick and still don’t think either of these guys get enough props for their talent. This is a great example of just letting these guys do their thing and shine in all its simplistic violent chaos.
Decide for yourself and check out Sympathy For The Devil available now on digital, 4K, Blu-ray and DVD.