Catching a bit of Oscar fever lately, I wanted to see an award winner that has been on my watch list for over 20 years. Blowing up in the 1990s, Nicolas Cage was one of my favorite action heroes having starred in Face/Off, The Rock, and Con Air. Elizabeth Shue caught my attention in The Saint, Hollow Man, and most recently in the new Death Wish, currently in theatres. When Leaving Las Vegas came out in 1995, I was not too excited as it was not an action flick nor did it look as funny as Raising Arizona, Cage’s flick with the Coen brothers in 1987. Leaving Las Vegas is about an alcoholic (Cage) who decides to drink himself to death in Las Vegas and on his journey meets a sympathetic prostitute (Shue). The pairing face dangerous moments from both shady inhabitants of sin city and inner demons, and the film does not shy away from being graphic in its depiction of a downward spiral, (I watched the unrated version on DVD). Cage won an Oscar for Best Actor and the film also earned nominations for Best Actress, Director, and Writing. In the last 10 years Cage has appeared in a large number of films, most of which do not have large theatrical runs. A critique of his has been his shouty, over expressive, approach to roles- which was on display here but it was also balanced with a subdued approach to a man giving into and then suffering from, his desperate plan. Shue played a character that tries to be strong but usually finds herself in painful situations, and she expresses her struggle. Filmed largely in Nevada, there are a few driving scenes that play too long, the repetitive playing of Sting singing throughout the film got annoying fast (none of the music seems to fit the mood of the film), slow motion scenes had distracting extras in the background, and the cuts of an interview with Shue’s character kept taking me out of the film. Their challenge and friendship make up the heart of the film and I found it a bit tough to sit through in order to see their chemistry but some of that may have been the extra footage not seen in theatres that this version included. Those versions tend to drag the movie down and are smartly removed from the theatre version. Director and screenwriter Mike Figgis previously made Internal Affairs (1990 with Richard Gere and Andy Garcia) and based the film on the 1990 novel by John O’Brien.

Leaving Las Vegas

IMDB

1995, R, 1h 51m