Nicolas Cage has been responsible for some of the best
acting seen on screen over the years. Missteps in his career choices, tax
issues and a few bad films though have found him making more and more movies
and not all of them the best he’s had to offer. But it never stops him from
working and giving each performance his all. And while some of those films may
not be major box office draws they’ve provided him with some amazing
performances (see MANDY). This movie just adds to that list.
In A SCORE TO SETTLE Cage plays Frank, a life time prisoner
getting early release due to a medical condition that causes deep insomnia that
will eventually lead to things like dementia and death. He packs up what little
he has and steps out of the gate of the prison to be greeted by his son Joey
(Noah Le Gros). Joey is an ex-junkie now clean with no car and no money but
there to greet his dad anyway.
The two walk along until they can get a ride from someone
hitchhiking. Frank ask the man to drop them by the old house where they lived
and tells his son to stay there until her gets back, he just wants to take a
look at the old place. The truth is that before he went to prison Frank buried
a trunk in the woods behind the house and he’s gone to dig it up. Inside are a
bloodied baseball bat and the money he hid there. Returning to his son he tells
him things will be okay and he’s going to treat him to a time on the town.
We see in flashback 19 years earlier to what the baseball
bat was all about. Frank used to work for a mobster who was questioning someone
who had betrayed him. He eventually lost his temper and bashed the man’s brains
in with the bat which Frank took and hid. When the police investigated the
murder it led them to Frank who took the fall with the promise that the mobster
would look after his son and wife. Except that at some point they reneged on
the deal which is when Joey turned to drugs.
Frank and Joey check into a posh hotel, buy new suits and a
brand new sports car. When Joey falls asleep Frank goes looking for the men who
set him up and failed to keep their end of the bargain. First up is Q (Benjamin
Bratt), his old friend and one of the few not involved with the set up. Frank
gets information from him and goes looking for the next person on his list,
Jimmy.
The next night Joey notices that Frank is looking at an
attractive woman in the bar that the both realize is a hooker. He convinces
Frank to ask Simone (Karolina Wydra) out which he does and the two connect, not
just as client and call girl. He takes her on a drive to the hilltops to look
at the city, learns her real name and asks her out man to woman to which she
agrees. He then goes looking for Jimmy, finding him in a brothel. Before he can
take him out, Jimmy escapes and Frank is beaten up in the process.
Returning to the hotel Joey asks him what’s going on. Before
he can explain the call girl shows up except it’s another girl with the same
name. When her pimp demands money he finds out Frank is not the usual john he
would run into. As this transpires and as a bellboy in the hotel helps Frank
with something he’s writing a revelation kicks in about all that has transpired
that changes everything at once, a twist that most will not see coming. Whether
Frank will exact his revenge or not is yet to be seen.
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this movie. Cage seems
at ease with this character, not taking him too far over the top and not
downplaying him to the point of boredom. Instead we find ourselves caring about
Frank and his son Joey and want him to get the revenge that he deserves. The
twist near the end caught me completely off guard but was so satisfying as to
make the entire film worth watching to get to that point. This is one I can
wholeheartedly recommend watching and one that I know I’ll revisit in the
future. There is still plenty of talent left in Cage and let’s hope that he
continues to get the opportunities to let others know that. Some may disrespect
him for various roles he takes on but I respect him more for continuing to work
in spite of his difficulties and for turning in efforts like this one.
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