MANDY

Directed by Panos Cosmatos (son of George Cosmatos, RAMBO, TOMBSTONE), MANDY features yet another amaze-ballz performance by Nic Cage, some beautiful photography, and a big old mess. That's 'cause this is essentially 2 one hour movies crammed together, the first of which is nearly completely un-needed.

The plot is sort of Rob Zombie's HOUSE OF A THOUSAND CORPSES meets EVIL DEAD meets DRIVE, but realistically, it's Nic Cage versus the thrill kill cult. Which is the 2nd half of the film. The first half is meeting Nic Cage's girlfriend who's snatched by said cult, and the 2nd is revenge for said snatching.

The problems of the first half are numerous, but the main one is that you don't for one second care about the girl... or the cult for that matter. If the movie weren't named MANDY, I'd have no idea what her name was. It's set in the 80's... for no real good reason as it doesn't look/feel terribly 80's, nor does it need to be during that time period. The cult is mostly made up of dudes that would be better cast as accountants. Never any real heat between Cage and Mandy; no real belief that they were a real couple. Likewise, the cult doesn't seem terribly scary, despite the scary stuff they do.

And the first half is long. Like way long. The first hour is maybe, maybe, 20 minutes of story (and that's being generous - Sam Raimi has told the same tale in like 5 minutes). It's a great example of sizzle over steak... and the sizzle stopped sizzling long before you get to the steak.

Now the 2nd half is totally rocking - super fun, the great photography makes more sense story-wise, and of course, Nic Cage eating eating every set - and cult member - for breakfast. Very fun.

On the one hand, it's one of the great student films of all times. On the other, it's not a student film. On one hand, for $6 million, it's an amazing looking film. On the other, for $6 million it oughta look good when the rest of the budget for for fake blood, Cage, and sandwiches.

In the end, there's one real reason to see this movie - Nic Cage - who has proven himself to be perhaps the best actor of his generation, someone who's gone from cult movie star to A-list movie star, and back to cult movie star and maybe after this movie back to A-lister. He is fantastic in the movie. And it's pretty. Good looking, good sounding, and all-in-all bats well above it's weight considering the budget.

But you have to judge this movie as a whole - and the first half is literally all but un-needed. A full hour of almost no story telling. God bless Panos, but no matter who well lit a Subway sub ad is, it's still a commercial, not CITIZEN KANE. And he forgot that. This was an 80 minute long movie made into 2 hours. And that remains a huge sin.

BOTTOM LINE: 3 "Nic Cage 1, Thrill Kill Cult 0" out of five stars