Critic Reviews
69
Metascore
Generally Favorable
positive
25(78%)
mixed
6(19%)
negative
1(3%)
Showing 32 Critic Reviews
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All Reviews
Metascore
Metascore
100
No one is better at this kind of performance than Nicolas Cage. He's a fearless actor. He doesn't care if you think he goes over the top. If a film calls for it, he will crawl to the top hand over hand with bleeding fingernails.
100
An exhilarating riff on the cop-thriller drama by a director at the top of his game -- Herzog is also at his most accessible here -- powered by an incendiary performance from Nicolas Cage. A very bad lieutenant, then. And a bloody good film.
91
Bad Lieutenant doesn't go where you expect, but it has a stubborn, trippy logic.
91
The marvel of Cage's performance is that, somehow, it's all of a piece. That's the marvel of the movie, too. This is one fever dream you'll remember whole.
90
Mr. Herzog’s film is a pulpy, glorious mess. Its maniacal unpredictability is such a blast that it reminds you just how tidy and dull most crime thrillers are these days.
90
It's tempting to forget that Cage is not Terence. That would be unfair though, and diminish the sheer ferocity of his performance.
88
A true feat of daring and one of the craziest films of the year.
88
Frankly, the story isn’t remotely as interesting as Cage. Nothing is. In Ferrara’s movie, Keitel emptied himself out. But there’s a hellion’s joy in Cage’s cop.
83
It’s not always easy to sort out the legitimately inspired touches from the merely campy ones, but the film has a deranged, go-for-broke spirit that makes such distinctions irrelevant.
80
Herzog deserves the lion's share of the credit for the movie's quality, but Port of Call New Orleans is also a comeback for Cage.
