Here's my review of Rumble Fish. Let's just say in the nicest way possible that this movie sucked something awful.
First off, the trailer:
I wish I could give you a clear plot summary for this film, but, unfortunately things need to, like, happen for their to be a plot.
In a nutshell, Matt Dillion (what happened to him, by the way?) plays Rusty James, a teenage misanthrope leader of the local gang. A quick aside, if you were ever crazy enough to watch this movie and wanted to spice it up, play a drinking game where you drink every time someone calls him by his full name "Rusty James". If you make it 5 minutes, you are a tank. His brother, "The Motorcycle Kid," (yes, that is the only name given to him), returns to town and... uh... things happen, I guess?
It's shot almost exclusively in black-and-white, except for the Asian fighting fish in the local pet store that the Motorcycle Kid likes to watch swim (the titular "Rumble Fish") and one other shot in the film. There's a lot of work with shadows and wind and other effects. One thing to notice is that there is a clock somewhere in every scene of this movie. All in all, it has a very film festival feel to it.
And it totally sucked.
Francis Ford Coppola, our intrepid director for this putrid production, called it "an art house movie for teenagers." First off, that's bullshit. Pulp Fiction, or really any Quentin Tarantino movie, would fit that bill. Additionally, as bad as it is, Zach Snyder's recent Sucker Punch comes much closer to that description. (I know, I'll get some flack for that comment. In fact, I saw Sucker Punch in theaters and, say what you will about it, I had more conversations about that film than any other this year). Black and white, no plot, boring one-dimensional characters and a lot of shots of shadows aren't what kids these days, or in 1983, thought was interesting.
In fact, it makes me really question Francis as a person and a director. I know, Godfather and Godfather pt. II are amazing, but part III kind of sucks mainly because Francis put his daughter, Talia Shire, in a prominent role. Apocalypse Now, a favorite of mine, almost was D.O.A. (as shown in the excellent documentary Hearts of Darkness). More importantly, when the movie came out, Coppola said, "This movie isn't about Vietnam - It is Vietnam." That's super douchey.
And this brings me to my great point: On the global scale of narcissistic douchebags, Francis Ford Copolla ranks pretty high. He's below George Lucas, as evidenced by George's decision to alter the original Star Wars films. However, Coppola ranks above Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino (wearing Ed Hardy regularly shoots you up the narcissistic douchebag ranking) simply because he is so smug about it (the man made his own winery just to create a desert wine for his daughter's wedding for Pete's sake). One look at his new film Twixt, starring resident mother-seal Val Kilmer (what happened man?), in which there are supposedly many different versions of the film shot so that each screening can be a little different, shows that his pomposity knows no bounds. Ridiculous.
Rumble Fish cost over 20 million to make but only grossed 2 million dollars. My guess is that Francis Ford Coppola doesn't give a shit. In fact, he considers Rumble Fish to be in his top 5 favorite films he's ever made. Interesting.
However, the point of this blog is to talk about Nicolas Cage. Supposedly his work on this film got him the role in Valley Girl. However, his performance, like the rest of this film, is instantly forgettable. He has one good scene, but not worth going into detail here.
That being said, one thing to note is that of all the actors in Rumble Fish, and there are many, Nic Cage is the most famous, most critically acclaimed, and has been in the most roles (minus Dennis Hopper). The cast includes Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke, Lawrence Fishburne, Chris Penn (R.I.P.) and Diane Lane. Nic Cage wins out over all of them.
One other aside: young Diane Lane is SUPER HOT. If you think she looks good now in her 40s, watch her now.
In the end, I would never recommend this film to anyone. Maybe I just didn't get it, but it was super boring and Nic Cage didn't do much.
Next up, Nic's first star vehicle, Valley Girl.
