There are some movies out there that defy definition. They combine various genres into one completely different movie offering something unique and different. Nicolas Cage has made a career out of starring in these kind of films. Cage has been an actor with a tremendous talent but who’s had his career rise and fall. Taxes cut his rise short and he was forced into taking movies beneath him. The thing is he never treated them as such. He always gave his best effort.
Recent years have seen Cage taking on numerous action flicks while most actors his age sit back with something less strenuous. But he’s also taken on roles in movies that stunned viewers. Films like MANDY and COLOR OUT OF SPACE have shown he can take a genre film and turn it on its head. He does the same here with WILLY’S WONDERLAND, a movie that seems to combine humor, horror, action and the classic western format all into one film.
Cage stars as “The Janitor”. Driving down the highway he runs over a spike strip the local police lost not long ago. The two truck driver picks him and his car up telling him he’ll have it ready by morning but it will cost $1,000. Knowing he doesn’t have the money, the driver sets him up with a friend named Ted Macadoo (Ric Reitz) to help him earn the fee. All he has to do is clean up the restaurant the man owns, a place called Willy’s Wonderland.
Willy’s is no doubt influenced by Chuck E. Cheese. A family style place with games and oversized animatronic animals that at one time performed songs for the kids. The place is fairly well wrecked now and needs a good cleaning. Graffiti stains the walls, trash is on the floors and dust covers nearly everything. Macadoo shows him the cleaning closet filled with supplies and even a stack of Willy’s Wonderland T-shirts he can wear while working. He also reminds him to make sure and take frequent breaks.
Macadoo locks him in the building commenting to his friend the truck driver that they need to leave before they begin to hear screams. Cage changes, stocks the fridge with his bag of soda and gets to work. It isn’t long before one of the animatronic creatures reveals its true nature and attacks Cage with the intent to kill. Instead Cage take it out before heading out for his first break in the night.
While this is playing out young Liv (Emily Tosta) and her friends sneak out with the intent of burning down Willy’s. The daughter of local Sheriff Lund (Beth Grant) she knows the history of the place. It’s not good and it’s not safe to be caught in Willy’s. Everyone knows that. But knowing why is a whole other story. Breaking into the place before torching it to save this stranger locked in finds Liv and her friends trapped there as well. Now they look for his help between his cleaning duties and dutiful breaks.
Imagine if you will a movie that combines WALKING TALL with KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE with HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER and you will know what to expect. The silent hero who comes into town and finds himself having to fix things and re-establish justice and the weird bad guys who look like children’s friends all work together to make a film that is interesting and fairly funny throughout.
Cage’s performance here is muted. I mean that literally. I don’t think he has more than a page of dialogue from start to finish here. He does have a nice scowl and no nonsense attitude towards the creatures that attack him throughout the night. We don’t know where his survival skills come from but they come in handy. He also does a great job of cleaning in the process.
Newcomer Tosta is convincing in her role as wronged individual seeking retribution for past injustice. What that is becomes revealed as the movie unfolds. The rest of the cast is more or less fodder for the animatronic monsters and less notable than these two.
The movie isn’t
made to provide a platform for political speeches, it isn’t about grand ideas,
it is nothing more than a fun time. This is the kind of movie that was made
decades ago for the drive-in circuit, a fun movie that doesn’t require in depth
analysis or explanation. It’s just made for laughs and that’s a good thing in
today’s world. We have enough troubles in our lives. Better to let Cage handle
his problems here and let us take a gander as he does so.
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