Nicolas Cage stars as Frank Carver, a man who has recently been released from prison and seeks to take revenge on those who have wronged him in the action-thriller A Score to Settle.
In the last ten years or so Cage has starred in a huge amount of low-budget DTV films which are largely slammed critically. This is seemingly in part due to him willingly taking on any role offered to him to help pay off his tax debts. He still gives his all to these roles which are far beyond his acting talents, and it has produced some idiosyncratic films as a result.
I was keen to explore this avenue of Cage's career, as I hadn't seen any of these sorts of films prior to A Score to Settle, and I will take the time to watch his others even if this film was extremely generic.
As stated above, his character of Frank Carver is out for revenge from those who wronged him in the past, whilst also having to deal with a potentially terminal bout of insomnia. This is very derivative material, which is made slightly more palatable due to the element of Carver attempting to reconnect with his son, who he hasn't seen since he was a child due to the length of time he's spent in prison.
It's a shame how the plot turned out really, as there is a solid story in here about a man reconciling with his criminal past and healing the links with the only family he has left, whilst dealing with the debilitating effects of the insomnia that he's not doing anything to combat. It's unfortunately lost within the potboiler revenge story at its centre that really doesn't create enough intrigue.
Cage himself is perfectly fine here, and there are a few enjoyable moments of craziness that audiences would have come to expect from him over the years. I do admire how he commits to every role, as he learnt piano for just one scene in this DTV thriller. He's a professional no matter the circumstances, and it's annoying that none of the other actors in this reach anywhere near his standard.
Also, for an action-thriller there is barely any action. What they do have isn't staged with any great skill, which is really annoying as I've seen plenty of low-budget DTV films have wonderful choreography and action beats, but it's severely lacking here.
Everything on a technical level, from the direction, editing, cinematography, sound etc... was competent if unremarkable. It did the job required but there was nothing that stood out or enhanced the film in any way.
However, I think the film's most egregious sin is a quite baffling third-act twist that took me completely out of the film. It makes you question how the entirety of the narrative happened in the way that it did, and it's not as clever as the filmmakers probably imagined it was.
Final Verdict
There are many Cage efforts that are far more idiosyncratic and intriguing than this generic revenge thriller. If you're a Cage completionist though, it's hardly the worst thing you'll end up watching.
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