Review: Dying of the Light

Grey-haired, mangled-eared CIA agent Nic Cage has long been benched to desk work, which he’s getting incredibly fed up with. He’s also just been diagnosed with a form of dementia that sees him unable to control his emotional outbursts, something he’d like to keep a secret for as long as possible. However, when he hears an old terrorist foe from 20 years ago is no longer thought to be dead, Cage and younger partner Anton Yelchin defy orders for Cage to retire and instead decide to track the elusive terrorist down to settle scores once and for all.

Apparently producers took this 2014 CIA thriller away from writer-director Paul Schrader (“Blue Collar”, “Hardcore”, screenwriter of “Taxi Driver”) and butchered it in post-production. Stars Nicolas Cage and the late Anton Yelchin appear to have stood in solidarity with Schrader on this as well. However, on the evidence of what we do see on screen, I’m not so sure there would’ve been any way to salvage this mess. This is mainly because the chief butcher here appears not to be producers but star Nicolas Cage, who as is his wont far too often has decided to give a scenery-devouring performance that works against the rest of the film. I’m sorry Paul, but you’re the one who directed Cage’s performance, so the failure of this film seems to fall chiefly on you and him.

An unconvincingly grey-haired Cage looks bloated and is hokey as hell from moment one. Even his phony mangled ear manages to overact. Cage is in pretty much full-bore Nic Cage mode here (albeit still a long way from eating a live cockroach) and attacks the role with an unnecessary level of aggression that even for his usual standards, is entirely selfish and destructive. Let’s face it, casting Nic Cage in the role of a guy with a form of dementia that sees him having uncontrollable sudden outbursts is a very bad idea. It’s a shame, because the basic ideas this film is founded on have some merit and in less histrionic hands could’ve resulted in an interesting film. The main plot isn’t overly interesting (it’s pretty by the numbers), but Cage’s character on paper certainly is. In safer hands, that character and his struggles could’ve enhanced the rather standard plotting and created something worthwhile. However since we don’t have a genuine actor at the helm but instead a shameless ham, and a director unwilling or unable to pull Cage’s head in, the film really has no chance.

Sadly, it’s not just Cage who Schrader fails to rein in, as the normally solid Anton Yelchin wasn’t having his finest hour either. Schrader doesn’t help Yelchin at all by allowing him to offer up a distractingly mannered performance. Whatever the late actor was choosing to do with his voice here, it was the wrong thing. The best performance probably comes from a weary-looking Irene Jacob in a mere cameo as an old acquaintance of Cage’s. She’s the only one here who seems to believe in the material and doesn’t try to work against it by going overboard or being overly mannered. The film’s ending is bizarre, it plays like someone has combined two separate endings playing one after the other. It’s stupid, and should’ve ended on the first one, even though neither is a particularly satisfying ending.

This is pretty poor stuff, and Schrader can blame all the studio interference he wants but he’s still the one to have poorly directed a couple of actors. This is especially the case with bug-fuck Nic Cage, who attacks his role and the film like a bull in a china shop. It completely derails the film. Very silly stuff, perhaps Schrader is simply a much better writer than director (“Blue Collar” being the main exception, of course. He did well with both aspects there).

Rating: C-