It says a lot about Nicolas Cage’s infamously horrendous taste in projects that several audience members of this year’s IFI Horrorthon – people who can find the beauty in Troll 2, a film with a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 0% – walked out on the surprise movie Trespass the second Cage appeared on screen. Having now suffered through both Trespass and Justice, I may be copying them in future.
Badly-goateed instead of just his usual badly-wigged, Cage plays New Orleans high school teacher Will Gerard, whose wife (January Jones) is brutally attacked and raped. While visiting her, he’s approached by Guy Pearce, the leader of a vigilante group who offers Will a swift and violent form of justice – if he’s willing to provide a “favour” or two for the organisation at some point down the line.
There are potentially intriguing facets to this tale, including the setting of New Orleans. A city already wracked with devastation, both the increasing level of crime and the lawless justice system could denote a desperate scrabble to regain control. However, the psychology of this remains completely unexplored as Hurricane Katrina becomes merely an afterthought; a convenient reason to set the final showdown in a desolated mall.
The remaining surface-dwelling charade is almost comically ineffective. Though Pearce does what he can, there’s no tension, menace or pacing, and the dull screenplay is riddled with nonsensical details such as threatening messages appearing in the childless couple’s alphabet fridge magnets. And as the sexual assault of women is yet again used as an excuse for men to act out their machismo-fuelled revenge, Jones is abandoned while Cage endlessly stomps around, mistaking shouting for acting, but lacking the decency to provide some unintentional “Not the beeees!”-style hilarity.
A hideously unentertaining offering, Justice isn’t the worst Nic Cage film out this month, but please don’t take that as an endorsement.