Director: Roger Donaldson
Cast: Nicolas Cage, January Jones, Guy Pearce, Harold Perrineau, Xander Berkeley
Rating: B-
Set against the backdrop of New Orleans, a city still surviving the aftermath of the Hurricane Katrina, the film Seeking Justice is about vigilantes gone wild. A film about regular people taking the law into their own hands to rid the world of filthy criminals has been done countless times before. But, unlike past greats such as Taxi Driver, Batman Begins, or Man on Fire… Seeking Justice only manages a yawn and sighs for its rather predictable and featherbrained storyline.
Will (Nicolas Cage) is a dedicated high school English teacher celebrating his anniversary with his lovely wife Laura (January Jones) at a beautiful historical New Orleans hotel. Director Roger Donaldson sets up the opening scene to show us the love and passion Will and Laura share in their perfect dream-like life. One evening, Laura, an inspiring talented up-and-coming musician, is brutally attacked and raped. Thankfully, Donaldson spared audiences of the actual rape scene but we do get a feel for the brutality of the crime when we see Laura’s bruised and battered face. Will rushes to his wife’s side and is completely distraught and helpless as he witnesses the aftermath of the act.
Mourning for his wife in the hospital waiting room, Will is approached by a mysterious man named Simon (Guy Pearce) who claims to be part of an elite group that can take care of the thug responsible for his wife’s attack. All Will has to do is commit to being available to return the favor someday. Will’s facial expression tells us that he knows he is about to make a deal with the devil. His desire to keep his wife safe and punish the person responsible for putting her in the hospital overrules his better judgment, and reluctantly Will accepts Simon’s offer.
Just as life is returning to normal, Will is contacted by Simon and instructed to assassinate a man marked as the next threatening hooligan who (if let loose) will terrorize the city. Will is not up for the task of murder and instead tries to approach his target just to talk to him. The man gets freaked out when Will approaches and engages in a struggle that accidentally causes him to fall off a bridge into on coming traffic. The day goes from bad to worse once the police get involved and falsely accuse Will of murder. To prove his innocence Will is now on the run searching for evidence to uncover the conspiracy of the masterminds using innocent people to complete their dirty work.
Cage gives a reasonable performance as a conflicted man ensnared in a spider’s web he is struggling to break free from. There are car chases, fistfights, and gunfights that will distract attention from any overacting that Cage tends to do in most of his movies. Jones is very boring as the rather calm, cool, and collected crime victim. Her performance is a hard to swallow considering the type of crime her character has suffered. Pearce has a chilling effect playing a character that uses the “means justifies the end” theory to accomplish his mission. Pearce’s icy intense stare into the camera sends the message of a cold calculating champion of vengeance that won’t stop until he thinks all is right in the world.
Mimicking a the theme from the classic The Fugitive starring Harrison Ford, Seeking Justice completely lacks the luster and intrigue that The Fugitive gave us when we watched Ford outsmart the law. The movie is ultra predictable and audiences will have everything figured out less than half way through the film. If someone is not able to see what is going to happen in the five minutes before the next sequence, chances are that person just fell asleep during the movie. The twists and turns in the movie that are meant to be clever are silly, overdone, and only manage to evoke laughter even at the most serious points in the story. Seeking Justice is not a terrible movie – it just never gives anything back that will be worth talking about. In the end, this is one of those flicks that will just kill time and will be forgotten the second you leave that theatre. Here is some well meaning advice for Nicolas Cage – Seeking out better movie roles to revive a once prestigious career would be sweet justice against those doubting he can make a true comeback.
