Blu-ray Review: Seeking Justice

Blu-ray Reviews, Reviews

Nicolas Cage is an actor who has had some amazing roles over his career. Raising Arizona, Leaving Las Vegas and Adaptation will go down in history as great films with amazing performances by Cage. Then there are films like Seeking Justice.

Cage doesn’t go full blown crazy in this film like he did in Ghost Rider: Spirits of Vengeance but you do get some good Cage in this film.

Seeking Justice opens by introducing Will Gerard (Cage) and his wife Laura (January Jones) and attempts to show how much in love they are so that after ten minutes when Laura is brutally beaten and raped we can understand the mental state that Will is in that sets forth the chains of events that follow.

Sitting in the waiting room a man calling himself Simon (Guy Pearce) approaches a very distraught Will and says he is part of a group that seeks justice for people who can’t be helped by the law. Simon offers to have the man that raped Laura killed in exchange for a favor somewhere down the line. For some reason Will doesn’t think that this favor might be to kill someone. Well, he is very distraught.

So the first part of Seeking Justice is setting up the premise. The second part of the film is Will not wanting to kill someone that he is being asked to kill. But Simon doesn’t take no for an answer. Will still doesn’t want to kill anyone, but someone ends up dead anyway.

However, the police think Will is the killer and go after him. Now Will but find out what this secret group is all about and why they really wanted that man dead. More crazy twist and turns ensue and you have your self a thoroughly average thriller.

Guy Pearce gives the strongest performance in Justice, though we never really learn anything about his character or his motivations. On the flip side, January Jones gives her usual wooden performance but her character is actually kind of interesting. While she does play the victim in the beginning, what with getting raped and all, she becomes all the stronger for it and plays a integral part in the finale of the film and isn’t just relegated to the damsel in distress role, which is probably why her role is as interesting as it is.

I don’t think Seeking Justice is trying to be one of the great thrillers, it’s just trying to be a fun one. But even there, it’s struggling. There are a lot of really dull moments throughout the film and the whole plot is really hard to swallow. However, if you’re willing to give over that an organization like this can work and not fall apart or be exposed instantly then I guess you might get some enjoyment out of it.

The film tries to end with a great line, “This is New Orleans, yeah that’s how it’s going to be.” Isn’t nearly as memorable as “Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown.”


 


This film is presented in 2.35:1 widescreen and Dolby TrueHD 5.1. This is a great looking film. It’s actually very well shot and edited and it has a great score. The music and dialog are mixed very well.

Behind The Scenes: (7 min.) A typical short promo for the film with interviews with the cast and director.

If you’re an avid Nic Cage fan, you’ll probably dig this movie. It’s certainly nowhere near his best, but it’s not even close to his worst either. It’s a fun, albeit silly plot, that offers a few decent thrills in between a lot of dull moments and some nonsense. If you rent it you might not hate it, but I doubt anyone is going to be watching this over and over again.

Anchor Bay Entertainment presents Seeking Justice. Written by: Robert Tannen. Directed by: Roger Donaldson. Starring: Nicolas Cage, Guy Pearce, January Jones and Harold Perrineau. Running time: 105 min. Rating: R for violence, language and brief sexuality. Released: June 19, 2012. Available at Amazon.com.

Mike Noyes received his Masters Degree in Film from the Academy of Art University, San Francisco. A few of his short films can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/user/mikebnoyes. He recently published his first novel which you can buy here: https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Days-Years-Mike-Noyes-ebook/dp/B07D48NT6B/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528774538&sr=8-1&keywords=seven+days+seven+years