It’s time to look at the standings from the final groups and reveal all who progress to the knockout phase, including the to six runners-up. If you’re new to the Cage-Off, find out more here.
A couple more 2023 releases make it through to the next round, and again, at the expense of one of the seeds. We’ll explore the absolutely wild Dream Scenario during it’s knock out match(es). It’s such a great concept, with Cage’s character (not Cage himself; that may have been too meta) inexplicably starts appearing in multiple people’s dreams. Butcher’s Crossing is an interesting one. I learned a lot about buffalo. I appreciated that more that Gone in 60 Seconds which, despite a strong cast and great premise, is just bland. While it made third place, it’s not good enough to qualify for the knockouts.
Dog Eat Dog is another one of those crime thrillers that Cage seemed to get stuck in a cycle of making. It’s alright. Willem Dafoe’s character is absolutely wild in it, and it keeps on escalating, but it’s not particularly memorable in any way.
And the seeds keep on falling. The theory I’m currenlt working on is that Cage being weird works, but less so if he’s inhuman. In The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, he’s the sorcerer. All of his eccentricity could be put down to this – he is centuries old, after all. That said, this character is perhaps a little too plain, particularly when compared to Alfred Molina’s villain.
While it finished third, The Weather Man will be one of the qualifying third-placed teams. It’s an archetypal quirky character, and a likeable film. Red Rock West, however, is a far superior tone, even if Cage plays it quite straight. Cage and Dennis Hopper play well of each other. A real surprise winner though in the frankly ridiculous Army of One. It won’t age well. It’s on the verge of being redundant now with its story of a man seeking to find Osama Bin Laden, but Cage plays the character in such a goofy way that it’s just infectious and worth a watch – though you probably have to be in the right mood.
Proving that not all seeds are duds, National Treasure clearly topped the group. This film is such fun. I like Cage playing a serious man put into situations in which he has to do wild things. It works incredibly well. The story here is utterly preposterous, and everyone seems to be in it to make it as much fun as possible. Valley Girl might be the oldest film to qualify for the knockouts. Cage’s hair is reason enough.
Failing to make it through are a couple more thrillers. Both are perfectly watchable. Dying of the Light seeing a terminally ill agent find an opportunity to close a case which has long been a thorn in his side. Kill Chain zips along at a fair pace and does some fun stuff following various characters and playing with time. There are a few fun action set pieces, but it’s ultimately not going to stick in your mind for long.
Grand Isle is the only one of the quartet not to qualify. Again, it’s not dreadful. It’s quite fun. Walter (Cage) and his wife, Fancy, are having their fence repaired by Buddy when the storm arrives. Buddy is forced to spend the night. Then it gets bloody weird. Both Walter and Fancy try to get Buddy to kill the other. Then it gets weirder still. While Kelsey Grammer is in it, unfortunately he’s not on screen with Cage nearly enough.
Drive Angry is perfectly silly. For what it’s worth, it might be Amber Heard’s best film. USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage is basically three films in one. A boat delivering an atomic bomb, men trapped in the sea by sharks (the event Quint mentions in Jaws) and a subsequent court case. Cage plays it totaly serious and the humility works.
Snake Eyes features a larger than life Cage character in Rick Santoro. On top of that it’s a fun thriller with a satisfying mystery.
The final group! What an eclectic bunch of films were thrown together here, which really demonstrates Cage’s range. Lord of War is a fantasticly over-the-top story about an arms dealer. It’s shocking in places and Cage plays it in a larger than life way that works perfectly here. Birdy is a really interesting film about two men affected by experiences in Vietnam. It’s Matthew Modine, though, who is the focus and whose performance is wilder with his obsession with birds.
Joe didn’t quite make it through. It’s fine.. Cage plays his part well, but he could have embraced a little more wildness. he didn’t and it misses out as a result.
As for Prisoners of the Ghostland, I don’t think I’ve ever been more disappointed with a Cgae film. Having seen the trailer, my expectations were high. It does look fantastic. However, it’s all a little too disjointed, the spectacle turned up way too high at the expense of any kind of coherent narrative or characters you can truly get behind. A shame.
So let’s look at the knockout standings before we put in the final six.
So we’ve already talked about some of the best third-placed films here, and we mentioned The Retirement Plan in the last update. The films fill the slots based upon which group they were in. The only situation in which a film would switch places with another is if it would be placed in a knockout match against a film it was in a group with, which was the case in one situation.
The final films to progress are these six: Drive Angry, Primal, It Could Happen to You, Trapped in Paradise, The Retirement Plan, and The Weather Man.
This leaves the knock out stage looking like this:
So which are the ties of the round of 32? Will any of those thrid-placed films cause a shock in the knockouts? What are you predictions for my picks for the last 16?
The Cage Off 2024 is brough to you by The Unofficial and Unauthorised Nicolas Cage Puzzle Book.