Bad Lieutenant Reviews
Bad Lieutenant review
Posted : 1 year, 9 months ago on 1 August 2022 03:530 comments, Reply to this entry
Bad Lieutenant
Posted : 9 years, 9 months ago on 11 August 2014 08:20After a few moments in this manās company, itās very clear that heās plunging through the numerous circles of hell with boulders tied to both ankles. By the time weāve seen him ingest a copious amount of drugs, mess around with several hookers, and then sexually assaulting a teenager on the job, which may have been the moment I went āOK, I get it, heās bad,ā we know that thereās no real room for redemption in this life. Maybe in the next one, as Bad Lieutenant is equally mired in Catholicism as it is in relishing its exploitation bonafides.
After a while, watching the film gleefully view various despicable acts while butting heads with deeply religious imagery, it begins to dull its own impact. Itās envelope pushing just for the sake of it in spots, which is boring if thereās no deeper reasoning behind it. Yet Keitelās committed and deeply felt performance works hard to effectively smooth over these various transitions, he always tries to find the heart and soul of this man in freefall, even if the film isnāt entirely sure or even bothered with the actual presence of those things. It does become harder to care about someone who is written as being anti-human, yet Keitel manages to make us invest our time and empathy with this man.
The fact that the film wants to play for redemption, but on its own black-hearted terms is admirable. Thereās clearly no way for this guy to be redeemed, and he consistently seems on the edge of dying. How he goes could have ended up in several different ways ā overdose, random act of violence, suicide, target of a hit. It doesnāt matter which, his life is too bleak for any light to shine through. And while I may have had some problems with many stylistic choices that the films made, one cannot argue with the fact that it played by the rules of its world from the first frame to the last. Itās a complete vision, not a pretty one, but a complete one.
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A great movie
Posted : 13 years, 4 months ago on 7 January 2011 01:48To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this flick but I remember it so well. Indeed, I was so blown away by the whole thing and it became right away one of my all-time favorite movies. Back then, Harvey Keitel and Abel Ferrara were probably at the best of their career. I remember when I watched it (I was like 16 years old), I think I never saw anything similar before. Indeed, the tone was so dark, immoral, it displayed absolutely no mercy towards its main character and, Ā yet, it was just so fascinating to behold. After being completely blown away by this movie, I became a huge fan of Abel Ferraraās work and I tried to watch all his movies but, unfortunately, everything he made after āThe Funeralā became increasingly obscure and usually rather underwhelming. Anyway, eventually, 17 years later, Werner Herzorg came up with the bizarre idea of remaking this movie and, even though it was maybe not as awesome as Ferraraās version, it was still a really good movie and easily the best thing starring Nicolas Cage during the last 10 years. To conclude, even though it is an acquired taste, I think it is a fascinating bleak picture and I think it is definitely worth a look, at least if you don't mind a depressing movie.
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Bad Lieutenant review
Posted : 13 years, 7 months ago on 2 October 2010 12:000 comments, Reply to this entry