Review of Army of One (2016) by Pramitheus R — 25 Jan 2017

I don't understand whether Nic Cage is too good for us to judge or so atrociously bad that he numbs your mind to the point where you can't make a judgement? On top of that he stars in this kind of a movie. I won't put up a poster in the featured image, I'll just put this snippet there to judge the absurdity of the movie.

DIRECTION - After Borat and the Dictator, I was expecting the absurdity to be very high but when the words "True story" came on screen, I started questioning that was this a story worth telling? It looked like Larry Charles didn't know which direction to go with. To go completely crazy like Borat or keep it sane for the general audience. I think he tried to balance it out and created nothing. He starts out sombre with an eccentric character, assisted with a narration and then a countdown of his days in Pakistan. In Borat the comedy was so raw that I felt pity for the character and the movie was aware that it was presenting itself in that way. In this movie there is an urge to become mainstream due to which the off-beat comedy doesn't reach the desired level.

STORY - I again ask this? Was this a story worth telling? Really? A guy on dialysis went to Pakistan and then got hyped by the news and then it got made into a MOVIE? I mean when you listen to it, it might seem amusing but to make into a movie there should be something interesting in it. There was the odd love angle that kept barging in whenever things started to gain momentum. There was no need to humanise this person because you are sailing on the strangeness of the scenario. Why try to ground it in reality? I don't think there was any real script here. They just heard the story, got the highlights, put in some fillers, smoked a lot of weed, got the distributors high and made it into a movie.

ACTING - Nicholas Cage finally unleashes his entire absurd eccentricity on-screen. There are good moments where he becomes the character with the voice modulation. Then again he returns to his classic shouting and eye-widening. It was cringe-worthy and not funny at all. The only times I chuckled was because of the thought kept hitting me that,"How did this get made into a MOVIE!!".

FINAL VERDICT - Drink a lot, smoke a lot of weed and watch this movie. Trust me, you're going to have a ball! It is so absurd that you'll laugh like anything. I won't give tell you to give it a pass if you are in contact with your weed dealer or you have a liquor shop near you. Get high and watch it with your friends. There is a massive chance that they might shun you as your friend for convincing them to watch it. On the flip side, there is also the chance you'll enjoy it.