SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL

Set in Las Vegas, The Driver (Joel Kinnaman) heads to the hospital for his wife's birth (their second child). However, upon arriving at the hospital parking garage, he's held at gunpoint by The Passenger (Nicolas Cage). Keep in mind Kinnaman is not a taxi or Uber/Lyft driver. He's just a regular guy who is held hostage while Cage asks him to drive the hour to Boulder City. The story then takes a cat-and-mouse approach while the backstory slowly unfolds. Cage has been knocking it out of the park recently with his independent films but sadly, this is one of his few misses. The story is thin and doesn't do much to keep the audience engaged. Cage is his usual brilliant and eccentric self while Kinnaman finds himself a new a role. Typically the alpha male in any room due to his domineering physical features, he's relegated to a more humble, nervous, and quiet character so I applaud his range. But again, outside of the actor's performances, the film does little in terms of the story and the big reveal in the final act isn't really big at all but more of a meh reveal. As a Cage fan I sat through this but I warn others, while this isn't terrible, it's not that great either. 6/10