SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL (2023) – Watch only for Nicolas Cage’s performance

This year seems to be a busy year for Nicolas Cage. So far, we have seen him in the western The Old Way, playing a supporting role as Dracula in Renfield, a cameo as Superman in The Flash and in the comedy The Retirement Plan which will be released very soon. For now, we have this, a modest scale indie style psychological thriller involving just two characters in a story that takes place over the course of one evening.

Cage plays a mysterious character who grabs a man at the hospital car park at gun point and forces him to drive him around seemingly without any motives. Along the way he torments the driver without giving him any idea why he is doing it. As the plot progresses, the situation gets more and more tensed and violent, and we naturally find out that this is no random act. Overall, the plot is not very original and feels a bit cliche and contrived. Nevertheless, it does provide one and a half hours of entertainment as we are drawn to its conclusion to find the answers. Nicolas Cage gets plenty of chances here to act weird and give us his trademark unhinged and over the top lunatic behaviour. Cage bellowing out the classic disco hit “I Love the Night Life” playing on a jukebox while waving his gun and terrifying the people around him was an inspired and classic Cage act. One cannot help wondering if this entire project and character was written specifically for him. I am not complaining and will be the first to admit that I enjoy watching a deranged Cage performance. However, in this case, it would have been perfect had the story supporting the character’s motives been more compelling. Joel Kinnaman who plays the role of the unfortunate driver gave a competent performance, but he cannot help being overshadowed by the theatrics of Cage.

There is nothing much else to appreciate from a story like this apart from the performances of the two main actors and story. There are only a few supporting characters with brief screen time, and the location sets are pretty dull. The film did start off with some impressive shots of Las Vegas in the backdrop, but the action soon moved away from the town centre to the quieter and darker areas. There is nothing fanciful in the directorial style of its director Yuval Adler that lifted the film to an indie arthouse level. So, what we have here is basically a vehicle that is geared more for Cage’s fans. If you are one, then, welcome and enjoy!