Nicolas Cage in a remake of a classic film? That's usually synonymous with abject failure, most notably when it comes to his attempt to redo The Wicker Man, but I haven't actually seen the original Bad Lieutenant and, apparently, Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans isn't a direct remake. it apparently takes its inspiration from the original but gives it new characters and plotlines. Hmm, okay then. It got good reviews in places so I thought I'd give it a chance. It's New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and cops Terence McDonagh (Nicolas Cage) and Stevie Pruit (Val Kilmer) are debating from the walkway above the jail whether to free a prisoner from the cells as the water is rising up to the roof of his potential tomb. McDonagh jumps into the water and is next seen with a doctor being given painkillers for a back injury, except those really won't do the job by themselves...

Meanwhile, an illegal immigrant family from Senegal have been murdered and their only witness is a 15-year-old lad called Daryl (Denzel Whitaker), but getting him to testify is the least of Terry's problems. It's basically all "Sex, Drugs, Crack and Roll" for him in his pursuit for the alleged murderer, a gangster called Big Fate (Xzibit). At one point he arrests a young couple who clearly only have enough drugs for personal use, and it ends up in the girl lighting her crack pipe and blowing the smoke into Cage's mouth before she pulls him off. The rest of the cast is made up of Eva Mendes (below-right with Cage), sleepingwalking through the script as his prostitute girlfriend Frankie; Vondie Curtis-Hall as his boss, James Brasser, plus blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearances from Val Kilmer and Southland and Dexter's Shawn Hatosy as two other cops in his department. Finally, throw in Tom Bower (Marvin the janitor from Die Hard 2) as his Dad, Jennifer Coolidge as his Dad's girlfriend, Genevieve, and a brief appearance from Fairuza Balk as street cop Heidi and you have an outcome that feels more like a set of disjointed set-pieces than a cohesive film, especially with the occasional badly-filmed segment, such as one with an iguana to indicate when he's high on all sorts of drugs. In addition, I have to ask - why would he be happy to date a hooker? Overall, Cage doesn't come across as being a 'bad' lieutenant, just a grumpy OTT one with a drug addition problem and heavy debts. Cage has far too much 'good guy' baggage. They should've hired someone who can be more unpredictable, such as Sam Rockwell, but then would he want the stain on his reputation of trying to pull off a character that's based on a cult film?

Presented in the original 1.85:1 anamorphic theatrical ratio, the picture is bright, colourful and sharp and a cracking transfer all-round. For the record, I'm watching on a Panasonic 37" Plasma screen via a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player. As for the sound, this is in DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1. It's mostly used for dialogue and ambience and does this perfectly fine. The extras are as follows: Interviews: One each with Cage, Eva Mendes and Tom Bower, plus cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger, screenwriter Billy Finkelstein and director Werner Herzog. A total running time of just over 30 minutes. The Making of... (31:12): On-set footage mixed in with occasional chat Herzog, Cage and Kilmer. If you enjoyed the film, then here you can enjoy seeing those that made it work on it. The menu features music from the film with a backdrop of Cage and another character, whose reason for being there will become apparent as the film plays out. There are subtitles in English but the chaptering is typically lazy of Optimum/Elevation Sales with just 12 over the 122-minute running time.

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Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2010.