X
- 2023
- RLJE Films
- 1 h 30 m
- 2023
- RLJE Films
- 1 h 30 m
Summary After being forced to drive a mysterious passenger at gunpoint, a man finds himself in a high-stakes game of cat and mouse where it becomes clear that not everything is at it seems.
Directed By: Yuval Adler
Written By: Luke Paradise
- 2023
- RLJE Films
- 1 h 30 m
- 2023
- RLJE Films
- 1 h 30 m
Sympathy for the Devil
54
4.5
Where to Watch
Summary After being forced to drive a mysterious passenger at gunpoint, a man finds himself in a high-stakes game of cat and mouse where it becomes clear that not everything is at it seems.
Directed By: Yuval Adler
Written By: Luke Paradise
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 18 Critic Reviews
54
44% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
50% Mixed
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
6% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 18 Critic Reviews
54
44% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
50% Mixed
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
6% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Cage may hate that people quote his over-the-top moments out of context, but since this entire movie is one, you can’t really take any of it the wrong way.
Cage is having the time of his life playing the role––flippant, unhinged, oozing the confidence of a man with nothing to lose.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 12 User Ratings
4.5
8% Positive
1 Rating
1 Rating
67% Mixed
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
25% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 12 User Ratings
4.5
8% Positive
1 Rating
1 Rating
67% Mixed
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
25% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
Pay the dues
It comes from the less known Israeli filmmaker Yuval Adler, who has a few class B movies in his pocket, a mystery thriller.
Fright night (a great freaking night, as Nicholas Cage likes to say) under the lights of Las Vegas
Starring Joel Kinnaman and Nicholas Cage, who is also producing, we are grabbed from the opening shot music and scenes of a moody typical night in Las Vegas,but you know,what happens in Vegas? As the story follows David,a caring family man (Joel Kinnaman), as he is preparing for the big night of his second child birth,but then gets mysteriously caught in a rough game with an unhinged stranger (Nicholas Cage) with red dyed hair to match the suit that goes with it.
As the unknown passenger switches between the seats from the back one to shotgun, you get the feeling that it's about to come down tonight while the cards start facing up, slowly building up the tension and stress throughout its 90-minute running time.
With the least unnecessary scenes and a good soundtrack, you're treated to a solid performance from Joel while he anxiously struggles to unravel the past as the clock is ticking, and Nicholas Cage's outstanding acting and terrific facial expressions as he throws cheesy but catchy classic lines and shows off with his smooth-ish dance moves and singing, and an awesome Cage Rage moment with his roof-bursting temper. Both of them carry the film to an acceptable direct ending at the moment that the screen is burning with exploding molotovs.
Similar to Michael Mann's Collateral from 2004 in many ways, with a lower budget and vibes like in Ryan Gosling's Drive from 2011.
Sympathy for the Devil delivers a good watch to enjoy while making you wonder: what does the sound of screaming rabbits seem like?
Report
It's mean, gritty, and brutally nihilist, its mystery unwrapping before it strangles you with its perfect meanness. If noir is about, as the old saying goes, bad people doing bad things for good reasons, then Sympathy for the Devil bleeds in all the right ways.
Director Yuval Adler taps into the lean story’s Collateral-like intrigue but, outside of Cage’s hair-trigger antics, there is not much surprise here — especially when the filmmaker unveils a twist most will see coming down the road.
You can drop Nic Cage in your dull movie all you want, but when you do, you're only getting a memorable Cage performance in an otherwise unmemorable story. I love to watch Cage work. I just wish I didn't have to watch him work under these conditions.
It’s hard to say if this is worth a view, as die-hard Cage fans might not see anything necessarily new, nor does the overall arc of the plotline break any new ground other than to offer a platform for Cage to again roll out his usual bag of acting tricks.
I’m really not trying to make a cute play on words by calling Sympathy for the Devil godawful.
Here it is, yet another opportunity for Nick Cage to overact and chew the scenery. He can now walk through these roles blindfolded as they only require the standard set of over-the-top expressions and groan-inducing explicatives. Those who like this sort of limited trash won’t mind, but for a movie with only two main characters and neither of them has any redeeming qualities, it’s a rough road to travel and still find much to enjoy along the way.
Joel Kinnaman is OK as the driver Cage ‘kidnaps’, but writer Luke Paradise seems to have only two motivations No.1; To make you feel contempt for humankind and 2; To needlessly kill innocent bystanders while filling in time – neither offers much incentive to bother spending valuable time watching (unless your time is bordering on worthless).
For over 90mins, the viewer is forced to run over the same situations and dialogue without getting any closer to finding out if anything might have a resolution, and when the resolution is finally delivered, be left feeling somewhat cheated for what felt like over two Hrs. What might have been a tight little suspense drama is wrung out into an overblown, repugnant hate fest in copycat Tarantino’s lack-of-morals manner.
You will have to belong to the school of the easily pleased, otherwise be left wanting your time back.
And people wonder why there’s blood on our streets...?
Report
Production Company
Hammerstone Studios,
Capstone Global,
Dutch FilmWorks (DFW),
Saturn Films,
Signature Films
Release Date Jul 28, 2023
Duration 1 h 30 m
Tagline Revenge is a hell of a ride.
Awards
San Diego Film Critics Society Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
