Uneven ‘Justice’ may be worth it

Whether you ascribe the worried look on Nicolas Cage’s face in “Seeking Justice” to an actor working off his IRS woes or an average guy on the run from both the law and a shady organization, the busy star acquits himself well enough in this otherwise rudimentary thriller from deliriously unsubtle director Roger Donaldson.

Cage plays New Orleans high school teacher Will Gerard, whose wife, Laura (January Jones), is brutally raped one night. When he rashly agrees to an offer of underground justice from a mysterious hospital visitor (Guy Pearce), Will becomes beholden to a secret vigilante group that tries to extract amurderous favor in return.

This is the kind of material that would have made for exquisite unnerving under Hitchcock or the ’70s masters of paranoia — or even the Donaldson of “No Way Out” — but here nearly everything feels in-your-face and preposterous rather than evocative and tightly squeezed. But it is propulsive, and not without its framed-man thrills, especially when Pearce’s casual menace and Cage’s offbeat anxiety are squaring off, or Donaldson is in full-on action mode. “Seeking Justice.” MPAA rating: R for violence, language and brief sexuality. Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes. At the Chinese 6 Theatres, Hollywood; Regal L.A. Live Stadium 14, Los Angeles; AMC Universal Citywalk Stadium 19, Universal City.