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It is said that Nicolas Cage plays himself in the new film "The Unbearable Weight of Genius ", which is regarded as his turnaround. Then I remembered that it seemed like I hadn’t heard any news about his movies for a long time. All I heard were hashtags such as shopaholic, bankruptcy, and the king of bad movies... and the once exciting " Bravely Enter the Death Island ", " Sky Prison ", " Face Changing ", etc., have been It's from a quarter of a century ago. The title of
is "Unbearable Heavy", but in fact there is no sign of "heavy" at all. Cage may be so open-minded that the various expressions of his downfall in the film feel like routine. It is said that I am playing myself, but in fact, whether it is the failure to win the role, the estrangement from my daughter, or the debt, it is too much like a "drama" and lacks real feelings. After all, Cage is not Michael Keaton. Before he returned to the public eye with "Birdman" in 2014, the star who once briefly shone with the halo of Batman had been almost forgotten. And Cage will never stay away from people's sight no matter what. He is a superstar, and his status has been built over many years. So perhaps worse, his reputation is not fading, but deteriorating. The deterioration of
does not happen overnight, so it may not be possible to usher in a career turning point with one or two movies as Cage expected. The more cruel reality is that perhaps it was the haphazard splicing caused by bankruptcy that covered up Cage's plight: long before he screwed everything up, he was destined to be abandoned by the times. Cage has never been a typical heroic image. His melancholic temperament makes his most convincing performance never as a Rambo-style lone ranger, but as a hero who becomes a hero by accident and finally completes the Jedi counterattack. Compared with the superheroes that have caused the craze today, his thin figure seems out of place.
In "The Unbearable Burden of Geniuses", Cage had a lot of things to complain about. The most noticeable one was when he complained about " Iron Man ", saying that he was the better actor. This can't help but make people sigh, and it feels like "thirty years in Hedong and thirty years in Hexi". When Robert Downey Jr. was mired in various scandals and had no films to film, Cage, who was almost the same age, was making waves in Hollywood. Now, their values may be reversed. Downey's turnaround was "Iron Man", which he had been rumored to have had with Cage but ultimately missed.
Since then, Cage has not had any major productions released. The rumored " National Treasure 3" has been delayed for more than ten years. In the past decade or so, Hollywood has been dominated by Marvel. The movie
is like an episode in which Cage tells his life in an understated way. In order to pay off his debts, Cage attended the birthday party of an enthusiastic movie fan. While happily meeting his soulmate, he happily planned a new movie together. At the same time, he was involved in the kidnapping case of a criminal group, and finally became a hero again. In the process, the afterimage of Cage’s glory seeps in, along with his lovely self-mockery.
From a purely crime or suspense perspective, this movie certainly fails. Cage repeatedly claimed in the movie that he wanted to create a movie that adults can watch with their brains, and this is even more irrelevant. This is a thoroughly popcorn movie that uses Cage's downfall as a gimmick and crudely satisfies his desire to be a hero again. In the movie, Cage often talks to his younger self in fantasy: "You think it would be good to follow a good director and play a small role. No, you are the best Nicolas Cage. My daughter does not need a struggling artist. As a father, what she needs is for you to become a star. "My daughter does not need him to become a star. This is just Cage's own fantasy. While looking forward to "returning to the top", at the same time firmly believe that "it has never been outdated". It is in this kind of self-limitation or self-persistence that Cage once again revisits the heroic dream that is no longer credible.
In fact, as shown in the opening credits of the movie, Cage now has to audition in order to win roles.Then, the movie "The Unbearable Weight of Genius" itself can be regarded as an audition for Cage to Hollywood and the younger generation of audiences, proving that he still loves acting, is still energetic, and is more mature and realistic.
My girlfriend who watched the movie with me is a younger generation who has never seen a Cage movie. While I was embarrassed by Cage's crude self-replication, she was quickly conquered by Cage's charm and became his new fan. Who knows, in a world where Marvel movies are becoming more and more pretentious and lifeless, Cage will have no chance to fight back? After all, his own brilliance can still attract generations after generations.
