Nicolas Cage notices how badly his characters want approval, even when they are monsters. We rate his comic precision highly, and wish more of his films gave him something to do besides being the strangest person present.
Fi1m perspective
In Dream Scenario (2023), Nicolas Cage adjusts his glasses and raises a hand to make a point nobody has asked for. His Paul Matthews speaks in a pinched murmur that turns aggrieved as soon as he is contradicted. Director Kristoffer Borgli gives him an ordinary man's hunger to be noticed, and Cage makes the embarrassment funny without asking us to find him charming. It is precise, unshowy acting in a film that weakens when it starts explaining itself.
He had already drawn notice in Moonstruck and Raising Arizona, both from 1987, before the action-film years. Yet Mike Figgis's Leaving Las Vegas (1995) is a useful answer to anyone who thinks Cage simply overwhelms his fellow actors. Alongside Elisabeth Shue, he lets Ben Sanderson be amusing company without making his drinking any less ugly. Editor John Smith gives their exchanges time, while Figgis's jazz score allows tenderness into scenes that could become exhausting. We recommend the performances, though Figgis sometimes makes the despair look too appealing.
Face/Off (1997) belongs to the 1990s action-lead phase, when his taste for exaggeration had an obvious use. A later turn towards smaller films brought Mandy (2018) and Pig (2021). In Osgood Perkins's Longlegs (2024), however, the powdered face, sing-song voice and sudden shrieks frighten briefly, then start to feel like mannerisms. Perkins is right to keep him scarce, with Andres Arochi's boxed-in frames doing much of the unsettling work.
Renfield (2023) needs rather more of him. As Dracula, he borrows Bela Lugosi's vowels and supplies the wounded vanity of a man who expects compliments as well as obedience. We laughed at his first entrance because Cage makes the pleasure of wearing the cape part of the joke. Nicholas Hoult holds his own against him, but director Chris McKay keeps separating them for a crime story that cannot justify the interruption.
The same frustration returns in Spider-Noir (2026), where Cage plays Ben Reilly as though the detective has learnt his manners from a film. His faint amusement at the hard-boiled dialogue is worth watching; the repeated leads, beatings and bars are less rewarding. Across eight episodes, the series leaves us waiting too often for him to return. Start with Dream Scenario if the shouting has put you off.
Biography
Nicolas Cage is an American actor and producer. Born Nicolas Kim Coppola on 7 January 1964 in Long Beach, California, he began his career in the early 1980s with roles in films including Rumble Fish (1983) and Valley Girl (1983). He adopted the professional name Nicolas Cage early on.
Cage won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Leaving Las Vegas (1995) and received a further nomination for Adaptation (2002). He has appeared in a wide range of films, including Face/Off (1997), National Treasure (2004) and its sequel, and Lord of War (2005). More recent credits include Renfield (2023), Dream Scenario (2023) and Longlegs (2024), on which he also served as producer. He stars as Ben Reilly / The Spider in the series Spider-Noir (2026).
Cage owns the production company Saturn Films and has produced several projects. He is the nephew of director Francis Ford Coppola.
