"We don't get a lot of things to really care about."
Rating:
Living alone in the Oregon wilderness, a truffle hunter returns to Portland to find the person who stole his beloved pig.
Nicolas Cage is back, and I couldn't be more excited to talk about it.
(Before you continue reading, I just wanted to say that this 'review' isn't so much of a review as it is an analysis of Nicolas Cage being back in movies and of my feelings after watching. I hope you enjoy it!)
It has been a few hours since seeing Pig with my father and I am still trying to narrow down my emotions into something that makes sense on a page. It must have been only a few days ago when I first heard about Nicolas Cage making a comeback on the big screen. I had not heard a word about Pig on social media, but when I look at the reviews, it seems like Nicolas Cage would be in the running for Best Actor and Pig for Best Picture.
It is important to know that this movie is best watched with no preconceptions and as little knowledge going into it as possible. I have a habit of going on my movie review app Letterboxd before watching something and reading reviews. I have changed my ways this time. The only things I knew about this movie going in was that Nicolas Cage goes on a hunt for the people who stole his pig and that it's a mix of John Wick and Ratatouille. That prepared me for nothing I was about to see onscreen. The less you know the better.
I am not sure what to categorize this movie as. The best way I can describe it is a character study/anti-revenge film about a man going through an existential crisis told through the story of a hunt for his stolen pig. The writers and directors play into the idea of a revenge movie, letting us think the film will meet our expectations, and then leaves us completely satisfied. I was expecting a satisfying resolution and got nothing of the sort. In my own personal opinion, I love when a movie leaves me with something to think about afterward. My dad and I couldn't stop talking about the film, specifically Cage's acting and the underlying meaning, for the rest of the day. Pig definitely doesn't end the way you expect it too which makes the entire experience all the better.
It has been a really long time since I watched a film starring Nicolas Cage. I might be one of the only people in the world who can say that National Treasure is one of my favorite movies of all time. Besides National Treasure, the only other movies I have seen him in are as follows: The Sorcerers Apprentice, Astro-Boy, The Wicker Man, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. There are a few other movies he has been in, but recently, they have all been reviewed as horrible. At one point, Cage was a multi-millionaire, and instead of saving or investing his money, he blew it on crazy things like expensive dinosaur skulls and weird haunted houses. This pretty much pushed him into acting in way too many B-List movies that made just enough money and not ones that showed off his skills. There is your mini pop-culture reference from me, but the main point in saying all of this is that I am amazed at Cage's growth as an actor. There is something so satisfying going from seeing one of your favorite actors go from National Treasure, a cheesy historical fiction movie to Pig, a dark indie film about isolation and loss. I want to quote an interview Cage did for GQ: "I've been drawn to screenplays where I don't feel I have to act so much - that I have the life experience or the memories or the pathos, if you will, where I can just sort of more resonate. Acting is imagination and you have to believe to some extent, that you can be these characters and that you can be in these situations." This is no doubt his best performance to date.
Pig has a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. If you aren't too sure about watching this film after my rating and review, listen to the real critics on this one. It's not a movie for everyone, but if you have even the slightest interest, this is something you don't want to miss. I am looking forward to seeing one of Cage's upcoming projects "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent" where he plays a cash-strapped version of himself who accepts an offer from an obsessive fan to recreate his most famous movie scenes at a birthday party. Overall, I am very excited to see where Nicolas Cage goes next in Hollywood. It is good to have him back.
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