I read somewhere that there was a movie opening for the latest Left Behind flick starring Nicolas Cage, however I don’t recall even a soft launch. To my pleasant surprise, I was taken aback to see that Kirk Cameron wasn’t in this latest version.
Now, it has been rumored that Cage suffered some financial difficulties (see bankruptcy) after going into financial ruin that involved more than just a little overspending including buying not one but two castles, several Rolls Royce luxury cars, 15 or more homes, a few yachts and so on. Then there was a wee bit of a problem with a little tax evasion and a lawsuit where Cage/Coppola blamed it all on then manager Samuel Levin. Why take ownership of your own spending habits when you can blame it all on your assistant or manager or agent? Only in Hollywood.
And now that you’ve been filled in on the backstory on Mr. Cage, it explains all of the God-awful movies that the poor (literally) bastard has been in. He has no choice but take anything and everything offered to him.
The following list is comprised of not all his movies, just the ones that ranked on the bad list from a couple of articles: 23 Terrible Nicolas Cage Movies and Vulture Ranks Nicolas Cage’s Worst Movies — From Bad to Fair. And yes, I didn’t even realize that Cage had made this movie until I saw it on Redbox and had no idea I would discover the worst Nicolas Cage movie.
I compiled my own list of somewhat shitty Nicolas Cage flicks and left out one or two that was pretty good. Some of these aren’t as bad as others.
- The Boy In Blue (1986)
- Fire Birds (1990)
- Zandalee (1991)
- Deadfall (1993)
- Trapped in Paradise (1994)
- Guarding Tess (1994)
- Snake Eyes (1998)
- 8mm (1999)
- Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)
- Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (2001)
- Windtalkers (2002)
- National Treasure (2004)
- The Wicker Man (2006)
- Ghost Rider (2007)
- Next (2007)
- National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)
- Bangkok Dangerous (2008)
- G-Force (2009)
- Astro Boy (2009)
- Knowing (2009)
- The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (2010)
- Season Of The Witch (2011)
I know I am missing some bad ones, but from this list I truly believe that the shittiest Nicolas Cage movie is his latest, Left Behind. It’s not even due to anything glaring such as poor cinematography, terrible acting or bad special effects. It’s more or less the tired and drawn out Left Behind series that I’d like to see raptured and removed from this earth forever so we never again have to sit through such a horrible story line, poor directing, and terrible execution on all levels.
The franchise is based on the best selling novel series Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. I just think that most Christian-based movies are terribly done. They all have this cheesy, B-movie essence to them and no matter how they try and not sound preachy that’s exactly how the message comes across. If you want to watch something that is based on a Bible story and you’re religiously inclined then Exodus: God and Kings that’s currently in theaters is definitely better. It’s still not the greatest movie, and personally I found it rather disappointing as did Rotten Tomato rating it 29% or one and a half stars, but it’s a hell of a lot better than this latest Left Behind remake debacle.
It’s the same stale premise remaking a movie enough times hoping that somehow this time around it will work. How about going with the original idea now and then? Take when Hollywood remade Hulk (2003), the 2008 version was still not that impressive or necessary. But there are much better examples such as Rocky and A Nightmare on Elm Street. I mean, how many times does Rocky punch his way out of being the underdog and how many ways can we kill Freddy Krueger?
There were already three terrible Left Behind movies: Left Behind (2000), Left Behind II: Tribulation Force (2002), and Left Behind: World at War (2005). Now, there’s an atrocious and by far the worst of them – Left Behind: The Remake, starring good ol’ Nic Cage! Listen, if you’re remotely suicidal don’t bother watching this because you’ll likely want to blow your brains out by the end of the film. It’s just that bad. It’s the same tired Christian fear tactic that doesn’t work. The good boys and girls go to heaven and the bad boys and girls get left to incinerate during the final explosion of Earth. That is, if a plane crash doesn’t do them in, first.
It would work with a higher budget, an entirely new cast, crew, and producers ones that are not looking to shove religion down people’s throat. Rather, they’d like to make a good movie with a strong story line and believable characters. That’s why The Ten Commandments (1956) remains a classic and a film well made. It cannot be categorized just as a religious film or a movie only for Christians, but everyone including the non-religious, especially movie critics found Charleston Heston’s acting and the iconic directing of Cecil B. DeMille, making The Ten Commandments spectacularly classic, especially for its time.
Good movies go beyond the theme, because it’s more of a collection of story, characters, actors, and crew members all that work together in order to make the movie a masterpiece. When you focus too much on the theme and getting some sort of religious message across, you lose site of all the other components necessary to make a movie memorable rather than a waste of an hour and a half or so of someone’s time.
My Redbox Vote: Don’t bother watching this one, save your $1.50.
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 2% which comes out to a one star rating.