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'Rage': Another Nic Cage revenge opera

A Nic Cage revenge opera. That tells you pretty much everything you need to know about Rage. It means that at several intimidating points, Cage will bark out his lines at the top of his lungs. He is, after all, the big screen's Big Screamer. His roar is so forceful, it flattens the ears of whoever is the recipient.

As a respectable developer in "Rage," Nicolas Cage is provoked by a home invasion into drawing on his criminal past. (JACQUELINE SEKULA)
As a respectable developer in "Rage," Nicolas Cage is provoked by a home invasion into drawing on his criminal past. (JACQUELINE SEKULA)Read more
    by By David Hiltbrand, Inquirer Staff Writer | Columnist
    Published 

A Nic Cage revenge opera. That tells you pretty much everything you need to know about Rage.

It means that at several intimidating points, Cage will bark out his lines at the top of his lungs. He is, after all, the big screen's Big Screamer. His roar is so forceful, it flattens the ears of whoever is the recipient.

It means there will be more blood than at a Red Cross drive. And it means there will be moments of anguish as Cage silently contemplates his sins. Or maybe he's thinking about his career.

As Rage begins, he's a respectable developer and the overprotective father of a teen (Nashville's Aubrey Peeples). When she becomes the victim of an apparent home invasion, Cage's sordid criminal past does a jail break.

Cage gathers his dirtbag pals (Death Race's Max Ryan and Ray Donovan's Michael McGrady) to dismember the Russian and Irish mobs (led by Pasha D. Lychnikoff and Peter Stormare, respectively).

But they do the job so efficiently that for the last half hour of Rage, our protagonist mostly just drives around at night, with headlights splashing across his grim face. The very definition of futility is Nic Cage with no one left to kill.

Those members of the cast who attempt to inject emotion into this bug hunt, notably Continuum's Rachel Nichols as Cage's trophy wife, appear to be overacting, because everyone else, especially Danny Glover's police detective, is just punching the clock.

There isn't an original frame or line of dialogue in Rage. It's strictly paint by numbers. Or in this case, plasma.

Rage * 1/2 (out of four stars)

Directed by Paco Cabezas. With Nicolas Cage, Max Ryan, Rachel Nichols, Michael McGrady. Distributed by RLJ/Image Entertainment.

Running time: 1 hour, 38 mins.

Parent's guide: No MPAA rating (violence, profanity, adult themes).

Playing at: AMC Cherry Hill 24. Also available On Demand and at iTunes.EndText

215-854-4875 @daveondemand_tv