The filmography of Nicolas Cage is a wonder. From his Oscar-winning work in Leaving Las Vegas, to the nostalgic adventures The Rock and National Treasure, to the embarrassment of The Wicker Man. It sure feels like Cage has done it all, at this point. And all the while, his penchant for meme-worthy theatrics became his defining trait.
It was perhaps inevitable that, this far into his career, he dive headfirst into the kind of horrifying and high-art horror that is Longlegs. Directed by Oz Perkins, Longlegs is a gruesome hybrid of crime thriller and occult horror. The film pits young FBI agent Lee Harker against the enigmatic serial killer “Longlegs”, who operates by a disturbing and possibly supernatural modus operandi. As the titular villain, Nicolas Cage brings it his all and reminds us moviegoers why we keep going to see him.
A Scary, Scary Man
There’s no two ways about it, our Mr. Cage is downright unsettling as Longlegs. The movie’s marketing leaned heavily into that fact from day one, and it more than delivers when you finally see him.
A Hammy Horror
Following a short but memorable appearance in the film’s opening, Cage spends much of the film offscreen as Maika Monroe’s protagonist tracks his crimes. As Bram Stoker used his infamous vampire Dracula sparingly, so too does Oz Perkins with Longlegs. We see little glimpses of the man in his hellish underground hideaway, or snippets of an everyday life in which people dismiss him as just some weirdo.
As tends to be the case with Cage, you might have a laugh or two with his bizarre antics. He’s a very strange individual, with an appearance and manner that are off-kilter at best. It’s a stark contrast to Maika Monroe’s Harker. While Longlegs is bombastic and odd, Harker is quiet and reserved. The killer puts on a false air of affability, while Harker keeps mostly to herself.
But as the bodies pile up, and the depths of his evil are unveiled, it all stops being funny very quickly. Longlegs is far from some harmless eccentric. He is, as Cage himself put it in 2018’s Mandy, “crazy evil!“
A Brush with Evil
After following the aftermath of Longlegs’s murders for some time, Harker and the audience piece together a horrific connection they share.
The sinister forces that drive Longlegs hang heavily over the young woman, with Longlegs singling her out as his chosen adversary. And when the two finally meet, it’s little wonder Monroe was so unnerved when she finally shared the screen with Cage.
Cage offsets Monroe’s quiet stoicism with hellish glee, making the two a wonder to watch together. And despite how discomforting it all got, I wouldn’t dare look away.
Comfort in the Uncomfortable
As an actor, Cage’s ability to both entertain and disturb has long been something of a trademark. He’s long toed the line between wild theatrical displays with genuine pathos. It’s led to a wide variety of memes, compilations and varied film reviews which either mock or celebrate his peculiar style. Sometimes both.
Longlegs is no different.
An Actor’s Actor
Regardless of one’s opinion on the film itself, few can walk away from it doubting that Cage gave it his all, and then some. Which is, itself, a good summation of his career overall.
For a good long while, Cage’s choice in filmography was baffling. Whether a lack of discrimination in taste, or simply taking the paychecks where he could get them, it became a running joke in pop culture that his presence as an actor spelled either utter doom or the highest success for a film.
But with few exceptions, the question was never whether Cage could act. The answer was always obvious; he absolutely can.
As a child, I remember being inspired by his sentimental and heroic Ben Gates in Disney’s National Treasure. As young adults, my sibling and I cackled at the larger-than-life spectacle of his performance in Face/Off. And following the passing of actor Sean Connery, we revisited his epic team-up with Cage in The Rock. It still holds up, to this day, largely thanks to the chemistry between the two leading men.
Whatever one believes of Cage’s body of work, his acting has clearly made an impression on audiences of all generations. Longlegs is just the latest example, as Cage jumps headfirst into his psychopathic, devilish performance with all the gusto us fans of his would expect.
It’s an uncomfortable experience, watching him go to work. But that’s kind of the point. And it’s not like Cage is a stranger to the goofy, even bizarre.
The Living Meme
As other on this very site have attested, Cage has become a pop culture icon in all the ways that counts.
Maybe it’s simply the meme-driven nature of modern mass media, but Cage has found a whole new generation of fans among both Millennials and Gen Z. We younger audiences are drawn to certain film stars and their works, just as our parents and their parents were. Just for different reasons.
My parents grew up with the works of Cary Grant, known for his suave good looks and effortless charm. I grew up with Nic Cage, known for his almost insane commitment to the bit and endless entertainment value. He’s silly, yes. Eccentric, absolutely. His filmography is littered with both successes and failures, smash hits and stinkers.
And yet even Cage’s failed endeavors find some way to entertain. He never lacks in surprises, and even the choices which didn’t work are, at least, memorable. For many of us younger filmgoers, that alone is enough. We would rather be entertained by a bad movie, than bored by a supposedly prestige masterpiece which skirts by on lofty themes and big names alone.
That is perhaps Cage’s greatest trick. Finding a way to stick out, even in projects that by all accounts sucked. Two years from now, two decades after the abominable remake of The Wicker Man, we millennials will still get a chuckle out of watching Cage don a bear suit and punch people in the face.
Is it high art? No. But it’s fun.
Cage, by his peculiar talents, made it fun. And that’s what matters.
Cage is all the Rage
With its critical success cemented and significant profits already gained at the box office, it’s safe to say Cage’s latest foray into horror was a triumph.
And so long as he continues to provide all those memorable screenshots, or his iconic line deliveries, we’ll keep going to see him.
Why?
Well, he’s Nic Cage. Isn’t that all the reason we need?
