Previously posted on blog and written by S. Kess
If you are worried that in 2019’s “Color Out of Space” Nicolas Cage wouldn’t go 100% Full-on-Cage I am sorry to report that he does not. No, rather he goes about 125% Cage, so strap the fuck in, you are in for a ride.
“Color Out of Space” is an adaptation of H.P. Lovercraft’s 1927 short story “The Color Out of Space” about a color that, well, comes out of space hitchhiking on a meteorite.
The story takes place on a farm outside the fictional town of Arkham, Massachusetts. The Gardner family has moved out to the sticks to get away and start anew. The parents are Nathan and Theresa and are played by Nic Cage and Joely Richardson, respectively. Madeleine Arthur plays their goth daughter Lavinia, Brendan Meyer is their burnout son Benny, and Julian Hilliard as their youngest son, Jack, who is more glasses than boy.
One night as Nathan and Theresa are getting their freak on there is a blinding purplish light and a loud bang as a meteor crashes on their farm. It glows a bright purple that looks very similar to the purple slime in “Ghostbusters 2.” It turns out that the Color is alive creating both domestic and cosmic horror. From there shit starts to get weird at an accelerating pace until everything is just flipping bonkers, culminating in one hell of a whizzbang ending.
The movie starts out looking absolutely fantastic and sounding great as the camera work, transitions, and editing are top tier and the music is bombastic and epic. The use of light really sets the mood even before the extraterrestrial color starts seeping in and the colors start to get bold, oversaturated, and disturbingly beautiful. It has wonderful effects including some really disturbing body horror and creature designs.
The performances are universally strong with a caveat. We get Tommy Chong being the most Tommy Chong ever. Elliot Knight plays a hydrologist who is checking out the area’s nasty-ass water and does a fantastic job being the outsider watching things get weird. Richardson, Hilliard, and Meyer are pretty much spot on. The star of the show is Madeleine Arthur’s Lavinia who carries the emotional burden on her shoulders and never bows from it. The caveat is Cage: he starts out giving a very subtle and nuanced performance but as things escalate he cranks up the Cage craziness, then dials in back, cranks it up further, dials it back… it’s like being in a tide of batshit insanity. He goes so far it actually gets distracting as it is way more dialed up than anything else in the film. We really need about 60% Cage in this and he more than doubles it. That said, if you like his over-the-top performances hang in there with this one, it takes a while but when he goes for it he freaking goes for it. In one of the most memorable Cage moments he takes a bite of an enormous mutant tomato and violently spits it out and then goes into a fruit tasting frenzy, including biting and spitting out peaches and yelling his fool head off. Nathan proves he is no Castor Troy (Cage’s character in Face/Off) as Castor could eat a peach for hours while Nathan can only manage a few seconds. There are a lot of upsides, but “Color Out of Space” isn’t perfect. Somehow a two-hour movie feels like three and a half. It is always interesting but it seems to just linger. There is one important moment where they need to get someone out of sunlight because it is causing pain and they take them To a room with more direct sunlight and plop them down and the sunlight is no longer causing pain. It was a big misstep. The last issue is Cage just going so hard it took me out of the film. Also, the mayor sucks. The performance is fine, I just really do not like the character.
“Color Out of Space” is a beautiful neon nightmare that is a feast for the eyes and a treat for the ears. The issues present don’t sink it completely they just keep it from greatness. If you want your senses assaulted by sound, imagery, and Nic Cage going bonzo-gonzo, this is the film for you.
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