Minute Review - "Seeking Justice"

Seeking Justice

Directed by Roger Donaldson
Starring: Nicolas Cage, January Jones, Guy Pearce, Harold Perrineau, Jennifer Carpenter
Aspect Ratio:  2.35:1
Running Time:  1 hour and 45 minutes

1 star (out of 4)

Nicolas Cage's career once commanded respect.  "Leaving Las Vegas", "Raising Arizona", "Adaptation"....even "The Rock" are considered gems in anyone's resume.  Recently, Cage has fallen on hard times, and even worse films.  "Seeking Justice" is just the latest example of his ineptitude.

Will Gerard (Cage) and his wife, Laura (January Jones), have a great life.  He's a teacher....she's a musician (how they came together is anyone's guess).  Then one night, Laura is brutally raped.  At the hospital, a man named Simon (Guy Pearce) gives Will a proposition.  They know who did it and if he agrees, they will "take care" of the problem.  They only ask sometime in the future that he repay the debt.  You can see where this is going.

The screenplay is convoluted and full of cliches.  There is the unwilling participant, the twist of who the person actually is that Will is tasked to "take care of", that everyone he comes into contact with is involved and there might even be someone in his life involved.  If done well, or even given a fresh spin, these cliches are forgivable and overlooked.  Unfortunately, this film doesn't have anything fresh.  Tired and old, like Nicolas Cage's acting.  Do the requisite crazy looks and yell a few lines....Cage's schtick nowadays that he gets paid for.

Then there is the wasted talent of the other actors.  Harold Perrineau = wasted, Jennifer Carpenter = not even in the film enough to be considered a cameo, Guy Pearce = criminally wasted.....should've elevated the material but not even Pearce can make this film better, January Jones = wa.....oh wait, she does belong in a film of this caliber....let's try that again....January Jones = terrible actor.

So, save your time, save your money (at least I watched it on Netflix) and just know that Nicolas Cage is still content with phoning in his performance and collecting a paycheck on direct to video scripts.  I only wish Guy Pearce had better standards.