
After Katrina, police sergeant Terence McDonagh rescues a prisoner, hurts his back in the process and earns a promotion to lieutenant plus an addiction to cocaine and painkillers. Six months later, a family is murdered over drugs; Terence runs the investigation. His drug-using prostitute girlfriend, his alcoholic father's dog, run-ins with two old women and a well-connected john, gambling losses, a nervous young witness, and thefts of police property put Terence's job and the... (Full plot summary below)
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After Katrina, police sergeant Terence McDonagh rescues a prisoner, hurts his back in the process and earns a promotion to lieutenant plus an addiction to cocaine and painkillers. Six months later, a family is murdered over drugs; Terence runs the investigation. His drug-using prostitute girlfriend, his alcoholic father's dog, run-ins with two old women and a well-connected john, gambling losses, a nervous young witness, and thefts of police property put Terence's job and then his life in danger. He starts seeing things. He wants a big score to get out from under mounting debts, so he joins forces with drug dealers. The murders remain unsolved. A bad lieutenant gets worse.
Leave your thoughts about Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.
| Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertNo one is better at this kind of performance than Nicolas Cage. He's 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. |
| EmpireAdam SmithAn exhilarating riff on the cop-thriller drama by a director at the top of his game -- Herzog is also at his most accessible here -- powered by an incendiary performance from Nicolas Cage. A very bad lieutenant, then. And a bloody good film. |
| Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsA true feat of daring and one of the craziest films of the year. |
| Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanBad Lieutenant doesn't go where you expect, but it has a stubborn, trippy logic. |
| Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerThe marvel of Cage's performance is that, somehow, it's all of a piece. That's the marvel of the movie, too. This is one fever dream you'll remember whole. |
| The New York TimesA.O. ScottMr. Herzog’s film is a pulpy, glorious mess. Its maniacal unpredictability is such a blast that it reminds you just how tidy and dull most crime thrillers are these days. |
| Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyIt's tempting to forget that Cage is not Terence. That would be unfair though, and diminish the sheer ferocity of his performance. |
| Boston GlobeWesley MorrisFrankly, the story isn’t remotely as interesting as Cage. Nothing is. In Ferrara’s movie, Keitel emptied himself out. But there’s a hellion’s joy in Cage’s cop. |
| Film ThreatJessica BaxterNicolas Cage is a joy to watch, and Werner Herzog is a brilliant storyteller. |
| The A.V. ClubScott TobiasIt’s not always easy to sort out the legitimately inspired touches from the merely campy ones, but the film has a deranged, go-for-broke spirit that makes such distinctions irrelevant. |