The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans (2009)

Director:

Werner Herzog

Writers (WGA):

William M. Finkelstein (screenplay)
Victor Argo (earlier film "Bad Lieutenant") ...

Release Date:

11 September 2009 (Italy)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

The only criminal he can't catch is himself.

Plot:

Terence McDonagh is a drug- and gambling-addled detective in post-Katrina New Orleans investigating the killing of five Senegalese immigrants. |

Plot Keywords:

Dance Scene | Bar | Alcoholic | Threatened With Knife | Shot To Death

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Nicolas Cage	...	Terence McDonagh
Val Kilmer	...	Stevie Pruit
Eva Mendes	...	Frankie Donnenfeld
Jennifer Coolidge	...	Genevieve
Fairuza Balk	...	Heidi
Brad Dourif	...	Ned Schoenholtz
Michael Shannon	...	Mundt
Shawn Hatosy	...	Armand Benoit
Denzel Whitaker	...	Daryl
Xzibit	...	Big Fate
Katie Chonacas	...	Tina
Shea Whigham	...	Justin
Brandi Coleman	...	Yvonne
Tom Bower	...	Pat McDonough
Irma P. Hall	...	Binnie Rogers
Lance E. Nichols	...	Jerimiah Goodhusband
Vondie Curtis-Hall	...	James Brasser
Lauren Pennington	...	Young woman
Brandy Moon	...	Duffy's wife
Jillian Batherson	...	D.A's Assistant
Deena Beasley	...	Miamouna
J.D. Evermore	...	Rick Fitzsimon
Deneen Tyler	...	Pharmacist
Marco St. John	...	Eugene Gratz
Nick Gomez	...	Evaristo Chavez
Kyle Russell Clements	...	Lawrence
Michael Wozniak	...	Undercover Officer
Lucius Baston	...	Deshaun 'Midget' Hackett
Sam Medina	...	Andy
Armando Leduc	...	Jeff
J. Omar Castro	...	Narcotics Detective
Noel Arthur	...	Renaldo Hayes
Tony Bentley	...	Hurley
Tim Bellow	...	Gary 'G' Jenkins
Topher Jones	...	Undercover Detective
Sean Boyd	...	Lt. Stoyer
Douglas M. Griffin	...	Sergeant
Victor Hugo Palacios	...	Police Officer
David Joseph Martinez	...	Juan Michel
Jaime San Andres	...	Officer Lasseigne
Lyssa Prine	...	Nurse
Joe Nemmers	...	Officer Larry Moy
Roger J. Timber	...	Security Guard (as Roger Timber)
Robert Pavlovich	...	Dr. Milburn
Joel Davis	...	TV Play-by-play announcer (voice)
Trey Burvant	...	Dealer
Michael Arnona	...	Police Captain
C. Stuart Rome	...	CSI Agent
Jeremy Aaron Johnson	...	Detective Yasco
Lorin Moore	...	Promotion Reporter
Michael Zimbrich	...	Waiter
Matt Borel	...	Bernie
Joshua Gillum	...	Host

Also Known As:

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (USA) (promotional title)

MPAA:

Rated R for drug use and language throughout, some violence and sexuality.

Runtime:

122 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Italy:T | Canada:18A (Manitoba/Ontario) | Finland:K-15 | USA:R (certificate #44572) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (British Columbia) | Brazil:18

Filming Locations:

Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, USA

Company:

Edward R. Pressman Film

Trivia:

Although being promoted as a remake of Bad Lieutenant (1992) during its early production, director Werner Herzog claims that this is not a remake. He says he has never seen the original and therefore does not consider this movie a remake. Additionally, producers seemed to have added "Bad Lieutenant" to the title in order to get a better marketing. Whether remake, re-imagining, follow-up or none of the aforementioned, both movies are clearly connected by the basic plot of following a drug addicted, violent cop during his encounters with crime and sex.

Goofs:

Continuity: When McDonagh arrives at the RTA involving the alligator there is a red pick-up truck in between the two lanes of freeway traffic. Then, when he asks Lt. Stoyer to do him a favour, the truck is not there.

Quotes:

Terence McDonagh: You want me to get wet on account of you?

Movie Connections:

References Stroszek (1977)

Great entertainment with Nick Cage at his best

The Bad Lieutenant is a touching story of Terence McDonagh, a corrupted cop on his epic quest to screw up his life beyond repair, later trying to repair it by screwing up some more.

We don't know for sure if Terence was like this before or just after his back trauma. The back pain resulted in a Vicodin prescription, but soon Terrance moved up the chain with cocaine and other substances. That, along with him being a not so good guy in general, can make him more dangerous than some criminals. To quote another review, he only Serves and Protects himself. He is the Law and the Law exists for his personal benefit. But soon everything goes to hell, as he starts to mess with dangerous people that ignore the law themselves.

This is one of Cage's finest performances as the corrupt cop, drug addict, rapist, thief and paranoid wreck with a strange habit of seeing iguanas that aren't there. Cage really showed that he in fact does have talent, which he sadly usually wastes on crap movies like Ghost Rider. But here he's simply brilliant.

Though it was supposed to be a remake of the 1992 film of the same name, it's not. Apart from the title and corrupt cop theme, it has absolutely nothing to do with it. In fact, it's actually a lot better, richer with colorful characters and generally more crazy than the 1992 film, with Cage doing things that would make the original lieutenant shy.

The movie is really entertaining, dark and bizarre but also well written and has some humor to brighten things up a bit. All in all, it's one of the best and most entertaining movies I've seen this year.