It's in the same vein as Taxi Driver, The King Of Comedy... dark, psychological dramas with very flawed protagonists in the spotlight. This here involves Nicolas Cage as an ambulance driver, who has had a string of bad luck as he has been unable to save any lives. The rest of the film pretty much explores the impact that watching people die must have on a person, as Cage grows all the more insane living in a New York that can seemingly swallow anyone at any given moment.
Which makes Cage's relationship with one of his patients really quite intriguing. After bringing someone who was for all intents and purposes dead back to "life" (one that requires a constant use of the defibrillator to keep him normal), Cage begins to wonder if he did the right thing in bringing this guy back to a world that is constantly wrapped in pain and misery.
There's a LOT of humor as well, especially the scenes with Ving Rhames as the wise-cracking, Bible preaching partner of Cage's... but the problem is that it didn't really seem to gel with the more psychological elements of the script. I really don't know how to describe it. It was an absurd humor that I sort of wanted to see a lot more of, yet would have made the film a lot less compelling. Probably the most humorous of his since The King Of Comedy, but the humor in that was so dark that it fit. Here... not so sure.
I'm assuming I'll watch it again at some point. I don't hate it, I don't love it, I'm intrigued but not fascinated, etc. etc.
RATING:
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