Cage lacks the silent facial intensity of De Niro; he almost always looks like he's playing some sort of parody - his kickass cop performance in World Trade Center was almost, almost, laughable.
He's effective at overacting, though: as Don Cardi said, he's good in Face Off; tolerable enough in Wild At Heart and he's brilliant in Con Air.
...dot com bold typeface rhetoric. You go clickety click and get your head split. 'The hell you look like on a message board Discussing whether or not the Brother is hardcore?
