Cage match
Nicolas Cage is one crafty devil. The 51-year-old shares top billing and space on the poster with costar Hayden Christensen, but after the first, pre-credits scene of Outcast he disappears for 55 minutes before popping up again. When he does, it’s clear he’s phoning in his performance — and this after an hour of call waiting.
Cage and Christensen play 12th-century Crusaders, distinguishing Outcast from 2011’s Season of the Witch, where Cage plays a 14th-century Crusader. But as in that earlier film, the two decide they’ve had enough killing, so they desert. Already in the Middle East, they decide to keep going, into China.
This is where we meet Shing (Andy On) and Zhao (Bill Su Jiahang), two brothers fighting for the throne. Actually, Shing is the only one fighting. The dying king wants Zhao to succeed him, but the 14-year-old prince is a pacifist. So he takes to the road in the company of his sister (Yifei Liu) and Jacob (Christensen), who has an opium habit and PCSD; post-Crusades stress disorder. Shing sends his fearsome black guards in pursuit.
Zhao may yet make a good king but he’s no actor; when they pick up a survivor of an attack by the black guards, he cavalierly consoles the waif: “Sorry about Shing; he killed my father too.” If there’s any fun to be found in this dark tale it’s the rare scenes of Cage and Christensen trying to outham each other.
The action takes place in front of the best matte backdrops money can buy, and features endless scenes of knife- and sword-fighting. Is it any surprise that the firsttime director, Nick Powell, hails from the world of stunt choreography?
Christensen has been little seen on the screen since his role of Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars films 10 years ago. Where he has, it’s generally been in little remembered movies with even more forgetful titles — Awake, Jumper, Takers, etc. These could almost be mistaken for Cage’s recent outings — Next, Knowing, Stolen, etc. Perhaps it was only a matter of time before these two crossed paths. Σ½
Outcast opens Feb. 6 in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Winnipeg and VOD.