Werner Herzog’s “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call, New Orleans” creates a dire portrait of a rapist, murderer, drug addict, corrupt cop and degenerate paranoid who’s very apprehensive about iguanas. It places him in a devastated New Orleans not long after Hurricane Katrina. It makes no attempt to show that city in a flattering light. And it gradually reveals itself as a sly comedy about a snaky but courageous man.
Nicolas Cage is a fearless actor. He doesn’t care if you think he goes over the top. If a film calls for it, he will crawl to the top hand over hand with bleeding fingernails. He and Herzog were born to work together. They are both made restless by caution.
In a city deserted by many of its citizens and much of its good fortune, Terence McDonagh roams the midnight streets without supervision. He Serves and Protects himself. He is the Law, and the Law exists for his personal benefit. Lurking in his prowler outside a nightclub, he sees a young couple emerge and follows them to an empty parking lot. He stops them, searches them, finds negligible drugs on the man, begins the process of arrest. The man pleads. He’s afraid his father will find out. He offers a bribe. McDonagh isn’t interested in money. He wants the drugs and the girl, whom he rapes, excited that her boyfriend is watching.
An addict in need can be capable of about anything. He will betray family, loved ones, duty, himself. He’s driven.
Herzog shows McDonagh lopsided from back pain. He begins with prescription Vicodin and moves quickly to cocaine. As a cop, he develops sources. He steals from other addicts and from dealers. In the confusion after Katrina, he steals from a police evidence room. George Carlin said, “What does cocaine feel like? It makes you feel like some more cocaine.”
McDonagh has a girlfriend named Frankie (Eva Mendes). She’s a hooker. He’s OK with this. He gives her drugs, she sometimes has them for him. They share something an addict craves: sympathy and understanding. They stand together against the horrors. He’s also close to his 60-ish father, Pat (Tom Bower), not close to Pat’s 40-ish partner Genevieve (Jennifer Coolidge). His father has a history with AA. Pat knows what to look for in his son and sees it.
Colorful characters enrich McDonagh’s life. There’s hip-hop star Alvin “Xzibit” Joiner as Big Fate, a kingpin who holds the key to the execution of five Nigerian drug dealers. Brad Dourif as his bookie (he gambles, too). Val Kilmer as his partner, in an uncharacteristically laid-back performance. Maybe we couldn’t take Cage and Kilmer both cranked up to 11.
Herzog as always pokes around for the odd detail. Everyone is talking about the shots of the iguanas and the alligator, staring with cold reptilian eyes. Who else but Herzog would hold on their gaze? Who but Cage could regard an iguana sideways in a look of suspicion and disquiet?
“Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call, New Orleans” is not about plot, but about seasoning. Like New Orleans cuisine, it finds that you can put almost anything in a pot if you add the right spices and peppers and simmer it long enough.
“bad lieutenant: port of call new orleans.” ****
R for drug use and language throughout, some violence and sexuality. 2 hours, 1 minute. Directed by Werner Herzog; starring Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Val Kilmer, Fairuza Balk, Jennifer Coolidge, Vondie Curtis Hall, Shawn Hatosy, Denzel Whitaker, and Alvin “Xzibit” Joiner. Opens today at the Esquire.
