Thanks to the release of The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, a cleverly meta cinematic love letter to Nicolas Cage that stars Nicolas Cage as Nick Cage, the legendary, inventive, and emotionally robust thespian is now having a long-overdue comeback. Cage’s most devoted fans know quite well that he never left, however, as he has been working nonstop on straight-to-VOD movies for well over a decade, now.
He may not have the same bankability that he had when he was starring in Hollywood blockbusters back in the 90s and 2000s, but that hasn’t stopped Cage from delivering a plethora of quality work during this spectacular and underrated phase of his career.
With independent, low-budget VOD releases, Cage has had more freedom. Without the pressure or responsibilities that come with big-budget studio productions, he has delivered some of his riskiest performances. Some of these risks are as dramatically bold as anything he’s been celebrated for in the past, but some of them exhibit the actor’s more recently explored gift for grounded, subtle, and naturalistic performances.
Regardless of the film’s budget, style, or overall quality, Cage could never be accused of phoning in a performance. Big or small, good or bad, mainstream or artistically minded, he puts everything he has into each role he accepts. Sometimes it works better than others, but you always have to give him credit for trying as passionately as he does. Each of the following films showcases a character that is guaranteed to be, at the very least, interesting because of the sole and simple fact that he is portrayed by Nicolas Cage.
31. 211 (2018)
Cage leads an ensemble cast in the role of a police officer who takes part in a standoff against mercenary bank robbers. His quality performance, which is integral to the film, exudes trustworthiness and honesty. While 211 has Cage’s massive talent going for it, it, unfortunately, misfires in many other areas.
It has a few moments of dramatic weight and riveting action, but the film mostly feels clumsy in its execution. The screenplay is unfocused and trite, the performances are primarily surface-driven, and the overall impact is quite dull. The low-budget film has grand aspirations, but it topples under the weight of its larger designs. 211 simply tries to do too much with too little and the results are often noticeably awkward.
30. Grand Isle (2019)
Cage is highly amusing in his role as a drunken, mentally unstable Vietnam veteran who hires a strapping young man (Luke Benward) to murder his disturbed wife (KaDee Strickland).
Containing some clever and surprising twists, Grand Isle is an entertaining, well-made, and well-acted thriller for most of its duration. It completely falls apart in its haphazard last act, however, and offers no satisfying explanation or conclusion about one of its more interesting and important subplots. Though it has its charms, the film’s jagged storytelling and abrupt ending ultimately make it feel messily incomplete.
29. Outcast (2014)
Outcast centers on a former knight of the Crusades (Hayden Christensen) who reluctantly comes to the aid of an endangered Chinese prince (Billy su Jiahang). While the film is well crafted and contains some marvelous action scenes involving swordplay and archery, its uneven pacing and unclear storytelling mar it significantly.
Cage co-stars in a memorable but relatively small role as Christensen’s mentor. Though he is fundamentally miscast and uses a somewhat botched and inconsistent English-sounding accent, Cage still stands tall and delivers entertaining work. His performance may not inconspicuously fit in with its surroundings, but it still manages to be the film’s primary highlight.
28. Dying of the Light (2014)
It’s hard to accept Dying of the Light for what it is when you consider that the film was taken from its writer/director, Paul Schrader, and finalized in post-production without his input. Though the film lacks heart and character, it isn’t without its merits. Chief amongst them is a committed and complex leading performance by Cage as a CIA agent who seeks revenge against a former captor while suffering from early dementia. Cage’s quality work can’t quite save the film from its overall bland impact, however.
Schrader eventually finished his own cut of the film, titled Dark, which has yet to see an official release but can be found online with a little digging.
27. Between Worlds (2018)
Once you get past Between Worlds’ many low-budget limitations, there’s an endearing, quirky, and vivacious charm to it that is impossible to deny. Cage stars as a slovenly but well-intentioned truck driver who begins an affair with his girlfriend’s (Run Lola Run’s Franka Potente) daughter (Penelope Mitchell)–who happens to be possessed by the spirit of his deceased wife (Lydia Hearst). The story is ridiculous fun, and Cage appears to be having a ball with his character. While sharing a great chemistry with his costars, he is affable, funny, unhinged, and bewildered in the most emotionally charged ways imaginable.
Between Worlds is nowhere near to being a great movie, but it has enough going for it to be entertainingly worthwhile.
26. Army of One (2016)
Inspired by a true story, Army of One is an amusing but tiresome comedy that stars Cage as a delusional American who believes he has received orders from God (Rusell Brand) to hunt down Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan.
Cage’s creatively zany, high-voiced performance is like something out of a cartoon. Though fascinating to witness, it’s too removed from reality to provide the film with any relatability. Cage’s performance, much like the film itself, is funny and inventive but it doesn’t quite know how to connect with its audience.
25. Rage (2014)
After 2012’s Stolen, this film marks the second time that Nicolas Cage portrays a former criminal who is forced to desperate measures to save his kidnapped daughter. Unlike Stolen, Rage at least attempts to be more ambitious and thoughtful than a standard action/thriller. Though it occasionally stumbles in its execution, the film contains enough twists, style, and moments of contemplation to make it more interesting than its surface initially suggests.
24. The Humanity Bureau (2018)
Cage gives a dry but thoughtful performance in this science fiction/action title, portraying a stuffy bureaucratic worker who rebels against the futuristic and fascist American government that employs him. The film’s production value is notably unimpressive, but it’s still a highly watchable and entertaining film that is full of some great ideas. It may need some finessing, but The Humanity Bureau is still a low-budget success.
23. Inconceivable (2017)
This film resembles a well-made and perfectly entertaining Lifetime thriller—nothing more and nothing less. Inconceivable centers on a disturbed egg donor (Nicky Whelan) who terrorizes the married couple (Cage and Gina Gershon) that is raising her biological daughter. Cage is charming in his everyman role, portraying a Prince-quoting, motorcycle-riding doctor who wants nothing but the best for his loved ones.
22. Jiu Jitsu (2020)
This endearingly cheesy b-movie is essentially a mash-up of Predator and Kickboxer. Jiu Jitsu centers on a group of Jiu-Jitsu warriors who battle a reoccurring and deadly alien entity. The unpretentious film is quite aware of how ridiculous it is and has fun with itself every step of the way.
Cage is likable and energetic in a fairly small but memorable role of a wise, aged, and eccentric master warrior.
21. Running with the Devil (2019)
This thoughtful, informative, and brutal depiction of the illegal drug trade gets points for its high ambitions and sturdy filmmaking. The intellectually stimulating film, despite its many merits, is quite difficult to follow, however, and fails to make a full emotional impact as a result.
Cage is a relatively small but significant part of a highly talented ensemble cast that also includes Laurence Fishburne, Leslie Bibb, Barry Pepper, Clifton Collins Jr., Adam Goldberg, Cole Hauser, Peter Facinelli, and others. Though the film has its faults, Cage’s overall mild-mannered performance as a higher-up drug executive is one of Running with the Devil’s most positive aspects.
20. Looking Glass (2018)
A collaboration between Nicolas Cage and director Tim Hunter (River’s Edge) can’t help but produce some serious expectations. These expectations are the cause for some modest disappointment, however, because the film they made together doesn’t quite reach its full potential.
Looking Glass features Cage in a low-key performance that is balanced by short bursts of intensity. He portrays a grieving father who takes over the management of a small-town motel and soon thereafter finds himself involved in a dangerous mystery. The film is stylishly well-made, well-performed, and trashily entertaining in a late-night cable sort of way, but the specifics of its storyline are too uninspired and messily unclear to allow it to be exceptional.
19. Prisoners of the Ghostland (2021)
Though it gets better with repeat viewings and has some truly beautiful and memorable moments, director Sion Sono’s Prisoners of the Ghostland is overall more concerned with being artfully strange than it is with telling an emotionally inclusive or coherently focused story. Admittedly, there’s nothing else quite like the movie, but that isn’t necessarily always a good thing.
Cage stars as a criminal who is strapped into a suit rigged with explosives and sent on a mission to save a warlord’s (Bill Moseley) kidnapped granddaughter (Sofia Boutella). Cage is one of the best things about the inventive but flawed film. He plays his character with a charmingly rugged masculinity that is offset by select moments of his signature emotional outrageousness.
18. Dog Eat Dog (2016)
This gleefully amoral and pitch-black comedy is a gruesomely entertaining film that is fuelled by an experimental and sometimes-kinetic style courtesy of director Paul Schrader. Though it revels in ugliness and lacks any true substance or point, Dog Eat Dog is still an amusingly wild walk on the dark side that is filled with shocks, laughs, and thrills.
Cage and co-star Willem Dafoe play ex-cons who get caught up with the mafia in a kidnapping plot. Cage’s character essentially has no redeeming qualities, but that doesn’t stop the actor from immersing himself in the role and reveling in the film’s debauched and artful insanity.
17. USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage (2016)
Cage is believably upright and earnest in his portrayal of a WWII navy captain who is stranded with his crew in dangerous waters after his ship is sunk in battle.
Based on a true story, USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage is a well-intentioned and emotionally involving film whose ambitions often exceed its budget. There are enough beautiful shots, good performances, and effective moments to hint at what could have been if the talent behind it were given the necessary resources to execute it properly. As it stands, however, the film is a modestly successful though sometimes compromised effort.
16. Trespass (2011)
This home invasion thriller reunites Cage with his 8mm director, Joel Schumacher. It may not be anything spectacular or particularly original, but Trespass is still a well-crafted and intense film that thrives due to its straightforward and simple storytelling.
Cage gives a sympathetic and vulnerable performance as a jeweler who is in over his head trying to protect his wife and daughter (Nicole Kidman and Liana Liberato) from the ruthless criminals who are holding them for ransom. It’s an everyman role devoid of glamour and overt heroics, and Cage pulls it off with the appearance of ease.
15. Primal (2019)
Though it’s working on a rather tight budget and contains some rather shoddy visual effects when compared to other action titles of similar ambitions, Primal still gets its job done and is an overall success as an escapist piece of popcorn entertainment. Cage gives an amusing performance as a tired and selfish wildlife hunter who is forced to care about something after his game is set loose on a cargo ship by a deranged and escaped criminal (Kevin Durand).
The film recalls some of the action films of Cage’s past, showcasing memorable and well-defined characters, well-staged action, and just enough humanity and heart to keep the audience emotionally engaged.
14. The Runner (2015)
Cage gives a successfully naturalistic performance as a sincere but morally ambiguous congressman whose image is tarnished after a sex scandal. The Runner is a smart, thoughtful, and uncompromising examination of the political roads that inevitably lead to personal compromise. The film is more intellectually stimulating than it is emotionally stirring, but it still delivers its point in a clear and memorable manner.
13. Kill Chain (2019)
Cage fits right into this gritty and grimy thriller/modern noir, playing a supporting role of a likable criminal who doubles as a killer and hotel owner. Interesting characters, inventive structuring, and some intense action scenes make Kill Chain an overall engaging and thrilling experience. Though the ambitious narrative can be difficult to fully comprehend at times, the film’s merits are still quite evident.
12. Pay the Ghost (2015)
From director Uli Edel (Last Exit to Brooklyn) this supernatural horror/thriller is a well-made and well-performed film that offers grounded drama, some genuinely creepy moments, and edge-of-your-seat suspense. In his role as a college professor whose son goes missing due to paranormal forces, Cage is primarily humble and low-key, but he also exhibits believable moments of shock and emotional devastation.
Pay the Ghost doesn’t offer anything groundbreaking, but it is still worth checking out for horror and/or Cage fans.
11. Vengeance: A Love Story (2017)
This disturbing but mesmerizing film features Cage in one of his most successfully internalized roles. He portrays an honest cop who takes the law into his own hands after a woman (Anna Hutchinson) is brutally raped by a gang of lowlife criminals. Cage’s muffled anger and focused intensity clearly communicate a man who is pushed to his limits because of his sincere care about protecting innocent lives. His contemplative performance exhibits a maturity and stillness that impressively distinguishes itself from many of Cage’s typically louder and more brazen roles.
10. A Score to Settle (2019)
Cage stars as a recently released convict who is suffering from a fatal and incurable form of insomnia. He is also on a mission to exact revenge on his former disloyal cohorts, but those plans are challenged by a newfound relationship with his estranged son (Noah Le Gros).
Though its low budget is sometimes obvious, A Score to Settle is still an effective dramatic thriller that also serves as a sensitive and complex character study. Cage is movingly tragic in his role, portraying a man so filled with regret about his past that he is unable to face or even consider his future. The film touches, surprises, and evokes powerful feelings of loss in an adept and unforgettable manner.
9. Willy’s Wonderland (2021)
Willy’s Wonderland, like a few other Cage films on this list, is destined to become a cult classic. The darkly hilarious, dementedly inventive, and endlessly fun film stars Cage as a mute man who has to fend off deadly animatronic creatures that are connected to a possessed, family-themed restaurant. Without saying a word, Cage gives a wildly expressive performance that combines comically exaggerated stoicism with flat-out, ass-kicking fury.
Willy’s Wonderland’s mixture of comedy, horror, and overblown action makes it a perfect match for Nicolas Cage’s bold acting style.
8. Arsenal (2017)
This stylish, graphically violent, and highly well-made dramatic thriller features Cage in a supporting role as a low-level crime boss who hatches a kidnapping scheme. Highlighted by a grotesquely large prosthetic nose, Cage’s vicious, coked-out, and emotionally unstable character is amusingly over the top (even for Cage) in a way that suggests the actor is channeling some of his younger, wilder roles.
Arsenal is an underrated movie that features a largely unnoticed and extraordinarily bold Nicolas Cage performance.
7. Color Out of Space (2019)
This blend of family drama, science fiction, and body horror centers on a family whose life is terrifyingly disrupted by a fallen meteorite that lands in their backyard. Cage starts off as an endearingly geeky, quirky, and well-intentioned family man, then disturbingly transitions into someone who, infected by an otherworldly force, is emotionally volatile and increasingly threatening.
Cage and director Richard Stanley (Hardware) prove to be a good match for creating onscreen horror.
6. The Frozen Ground (2013)
This excellent reality-based thriller centers on an Alaskan State Trooper (Cage) who struggles to gain enough evidence to arrest and convict a serial killer (a chilling John Cusack). The Frozen Ground provides Cage with an opportunity to explore character traits and emotions that are outside of his comfort zone, and he lives up to the task splendidly. In the role, Cage naturalistically exudes decency, integrity, and, perhaps for the first time in his career, complete normalcy.
The Frozen Ground is a finely executed film with a surprisingly atypical Cage performance.
5. Mom and Dad (2018)
This completely bonkers horror/satire features a scenario in which all the parents of the world are inexplicably filled with passionate bloodlust towards their offspring. Cage portrays such a parent in the film, gleefully exhibiting some of the most inspired, off-kilter, and downright mad behavior he has ever performed for a film.
Mom and Dad reunites Cage with his Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance co-director, Brian Taylor, and the results are some truly unpredictable and inspired bits of lunacy.
4. The Trust (2016)
This wholly underrated and under-known thriller features Cage as a bubbly, polite, and sneakily sociopathic police officer who decides to rob a vault owned by powerful drug dealers with the aid of a fellow officer (a fantastically squirmy Elijah Wood). The film is the perfect vehicle for Cage, as it is every bit as quirky, unpredictable, and inspired as his performance within it.
The Trust, despite its current lack of attention, is a must-see.
3. Pig (2021)
Featuring what is, perhaps, the most thoughtfully subdued performance of Nicolas Cage’s career, Pig is a movie that packs an enormous emotional wallop in a very calm manner. In the film, Cage plays an isolated truffle hunter who goes searching for his kidnapped and beloved pet pig.
Pig is a beautifully sensitive meditation on loss and grief, and it is highlighted by Cage’s quietly skilled and mature work.
2. Joe (2013)
His collaboration with director David Gordon Green produced one of Cage’s most realistic performances. In Joe, Cage plays a flawed but inherently decent ex-con who befriends a troubled teenage boy (Tye Sheridan). Conflicted with a situation that might return him to his violent past, Cage’s character quietly simmers with turmoil and rage throughout the majority of the film, showcasing the actor’s often-under-utilized ability to communicate highly powerful emotions with very little effort.
1. Mandy (2018)
With this film, Nicolas Cage enters an insane cinematic world where his eccentricities and endearingly inventive strangeness feel completely at home. In the film, Cage portrays a lumberjack who seeks vengeance on an acid-worshipping cult after they brutally murder his beloved girlfriend (Andrea Riseborough). Cage delivers a truly exceptional performance in the film, exhibiting a stoic stillness that organically transforms into searing pain and violent anger.
Mandy is one of the strangest and strongest films of Nicolas Cage’s career, and it’s also one of the most fitting for his wholly unique and audacious set of talents.
