Dying of the Light

I did a Paul Schrader Light trilogy of Light Sleeper, Light of Day and Dying of the Light because my life is awesome. It was less awesome while watching this though despite Cage playing a rogue CIA agent with dementia with Anton Yelchin as his connection to the real world. The story does not excite which is one of those small film problems that cannot be forgiven.

It's better than you'd think from looking at the cover artwork, but worse than you'd expect from reading who's in the cast and crew. So not a real recommendation, but Cage is doing solid work with what he's given.

OLD MAN FIGHT!!!!!

The three leads do their game best--and Cage is even a bit better than usual, but the material is mediocre, and the editing of the final product--which is crappy--was famously taken away from the director and cinematographer by the financiers. Anton Yelchin's speaking voice sounds disconcertingly like Woody Harrelson's in "Cheers" here... I kept searching the screen for Woody only to finally realize the voice was coming from Yelchin.

Weird but almost everyone attached to the movie stepped away from it afterwards. Still watchable, Cage is solid.

[Rating the Dark edit] 2001: A Cage Odyssey. Doesn't outlast its welcome, isn't hindered by its source material to reach its potential, but it still feels weird.

(DARK CUT) "You have a disease of the blood, my disease is in the brain" This quote perfectly sums up Islam vs the West, that Islam is inherently immoral and evil, while the West has not always been depraved and infected with wickedness. Instead, the perverseness of the Western nations has accumulated over a prolonged period of time, similar to that of Evan's dementia. But the role reversal that happens between Evan and Banir as a result of their conditions could be a critique of Western values.

Though critics trashed this one, I disagree. While no classic, it's an entertaining movie. Two good reasons are: Nicolas Cage (who never phones it in) and Anton Yelchin (very good up and coming actor who was tragically killed as his career really took off).

Politically confusing — some dumb ideas about Obama's foreign politics and values in a world living a stealth, silent war — and often rewarding for Cage's overacting. Plot starts interesting — two dying men opposed by different world views — but gets convoluted and uneven.

pyrosexual stole my review. Movie is easily summed up by DEMENTIA vs. RARE GENETIC DISEASE and it's about as exciting as that sounds. I feel like it was trying to give the impression that it was building up to a big Nic Cage freak out, but it didn't. Cage's performance was not nuanced or good in any sense of the word, but it did leave me with a feeling of sadness in the same way I imagine watching a relative with dementia would make me feel. Wasn't hoping for much, but disappointed anyways

Laughably bad

Paul Schrader must have onset dementia...he forgot to make good movies...only shit rolls here..

D.O.T.L was taken from Schrader and recut by the producers, but on the basis of this cut the title may as well be referring to Schrader's career because it seems unlikely that the ingredients were there to create a much better film in the editing room. Cage is OK in the lead, alternating between restraint and berserk, and there are some intriguing aspects to the plot, but the dialogue is unengaging, and the rest of the performances vary from mediocre to bad. Just a sloppy effort all round.

It's always a joy watching Cage play unhinged. When he gets going he's utterly magnetic. It's a shame that after its early scenes the film loses some of its fire and slacks into a less-than-riveting hunt for a man who can't get out of his chair.

not bad I think. He played very well but he did not have a good co - actors.

It's a taut, untaxing, ultimately kinda forgettable political thriller with a strong Cage performance, but buried in here somewhere is a super-potent drama about the effects of war and torture on the mind, body, and soul, as well as the very concept of revenge, itself. An okay, time-killing potboiler that had the potential to achieve something much more memorable and eloquent.

I can't explain how I made it through this while I just can't get myself to watch maybe just seemingly bad movies. But..well I did. Not the bottom of the bottom of bad but more a meh-movie. In the end, I didn't quite get what a personal revenge has to do with values.

Not the worst movie ever, but you could tell it had potential to be more and it was a bit sloppy

With a simple and thin plot, shallow and uninteresting characters, a complete lack of action, tension, suspense, or talking points, Dying of the Light is a disastrous film that doesn't showcase any of the talent involved in any light other than a negative one. It's unlikely to affect anyone's career -- about the only one is could hurt is Anyon Yelchin's -- but it's not something that anyone can really be proud of. Maybe that's why it's essentially being disowned by its creators.

Most of the points are just for the potential and pretty good acting by Nick Cage. It's weirdly edited like this and feels like something is missing all the time. And if you know the story behind this film it all makes sense. If the studio didn't take it away from Schrader, it could have been something good actually. But like this there's nothing left of what Schrader intended to show. So let's hope for a director's cut.