Herzog, Cage go off the deep end in ‘Lieutenant’

Take an eccentric director, add an eccentric star, and what’s the outcome?

A truly bizarre film.

In Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, the combination of Werner Herzog’s zany, metaphor-rich directing and Nicolas Cage’s over-exaggerated characterization produces a ludicrous yet somewhat fascinating film that both entices and befuddles the audience.

Love or hate him, Cage is a perfect fit to play Terence McDonagh — a New Orleans-based homicide detective who busts druggies to satisfy his own personal addiction. After permanently injuring his back while trying to save an inmate, he becomes hooked on his Vicodin prescription, and later succumbs to more destructive drugs like cocaine and heroine.

This addiction leads him to gamble excessively, provide coke for his prostitute girlfriend (Eva Mendes), steal drugs from both junkie couples and the police department and eventually ally with the very same homicidal narcotics-dealing gang he is investigating.

It is important to note that although this film shares the title of the 1992 Abel Ferrara cult classic, it is not a remake at all. The only common theme is that there is a bad cop involved. In fact, Herzog did not even want to share the same title, and only agreed to do so after the producers accepted his suggestion to make the title more specific: Port of Call New Orleans.

As the title implies, the scene is set in post-Katrina New Orleans, at a time when there is an obvious breakdown of civil order and morality. Unlike the 1992 character in Ferrara’s film, McDonagh never shows much remorse or guilt over his actions. There is no reference to any religion except for some Virgin Mary statues in the background and redemption is elusive.

Instead, the film portrays the collapse of morality, and provides a grim view on how absolutely base and vile a human being can become. Given Herzog’s cynical view on humanity, this depressing outlook is hardly surprising.

The ongoing harrowing plot — McDonagh being suspended from his work, almost losing his girlfriend, being thousands of dollars in debt because of gambling — seems secondary to the visible downward spiral of Terence’s morality.

At one point, he tries to blackmail a football star to throw a game so he can win his bet; in another scene, he turns a gun upon two sweet elderly women and screams, “You are the fucking reason why this country’s going down the drain!”

Indeed, this film is full of loopy ironies and extremities. And perhaps this is why Cage seems entirely comfortable in his role here.

Throughout the whole movie, one word comes to mind: ugly. Terence is not a pretty sight; he glowers like a bulldog, with a ridiculously long gun stuck down the front of his pants; he snorts coke in almost every scene; his eyes are sunken and dark with sleep deprivation; and his gaze is intense, piercing and maniacal.

Cage has never looked so hideous, yet he plays it well in character. He manages to keep up his stiff-board walk and slouched back even when he is running up the stairs, and his emotions are clearly displayed with every twitch on his face. He doesn’t want or need your pity; he knows he’s depraved, but he doesn’t care as long as he gets his fix.

Herzog adds another dimension to this play of absurdities with his characteristic enigmatic metaphors and exaggerated use of animals. In one scene, there is an awkwardly long shot of two Iguanas — filmed shakily with a handheld camera — to the song “Please Release Me.”

In another, the soul of a dead gangster break dances. The ending is just as baffling — Terence sits in front of a giant fish tank with the very same inmate he rescued years ago, and his last words are, “Do fish have dreams?”

If you’re looking for a lighthearted movie, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is not for you. This is one highly entertaining film that will make you laugh, gape and squirm at the preposterousness of it all, but you will also leave feeling highly disturbed, puzzled and delusional.

But perhaps that is just what Herzog wanted — a film with a visual image and emotional sensation so strong and loony that it lingers in your mind.