Despite the questionable decisions the great Nicolas Cage has made in his career, Cage is and will always be a treasured and remarkable talent. Lest we forget, Nicolas Cage is a multiple Oscar nominated actor and an Oscar winner for his role in Leaving Las Vegas. At the same time, there’s always been something so alluring and attractive with the performances that Cage brings to the screen. We can dissect all that subpar movies and cherry pick the negative aspects, but no one can deny that what ever Nicolas Cage brings to the table can’t be missed, especially for any die-hard cinephile. Any fan of Cage’s work will see anything he’s in no matter what. So it’s almost impossible for anyone to turn down the idea of Nicolas Cage playing Count Dracula. It’s a genius idea in the general concept and it’s a genius idea in terms of it’s execution in the actual film itself. It’s also refreshing to see Universal go down a different route with their approach to the classic horror film properties that they tried to revitalize and connect together that first started with Dracula Untold and The Mummy. Both failed to meet expectations on a critical and financial level so then it gave Universal to switch things again by focusing on individual movies. Rather than setting up future arcs and other aspects, the studio had the intention on making film that centered around the events of their own movies rather than connecting everything all together and so far it’s worked off well.
Renfield was grabbing so much buzz simply from the look of Nicolas Cage playing Dracula. The trailers and marketing seem to paint an accurate representation of what the movie would end up being and sure enough it was. Renfield is blood-soaking, action packed thrill ride that’s full of guts, gore and a wonderful over the top performance from the wonderful Nicolas Cage. Nicholas Hoult, Awkwafina and even Ben Schwartz were all stand outs in terms of the movies great level of comedy. The violence, while over the top, was great visual spectacle and while the story is rudimentary, the complete carnage, comedy and performances make up for all of that.
We can debate about what worked and didn’t work in Renfield, but there’s going to be a fundamental problem if we can be on the same page on how brilliant Nicolas Cage was as Dracula. If you take Cage’s performance out of this movie, you’d still have a fun blood & guts action comedy. But Cage’s presence and fully committed performance elevates everything else surrounding him. He’s in the movie for just the right amount of time but when he’s not on screen you only want more of his craziness. That also doesn’t take anything away from the rest of the crew. Nicholas Hoult is improving to be one of the best young working actors in the business today. With films such as Mad Max: Fury Road, The Favourite and even last year’s The Menu, Hoult is improving more as a supporting character but more importantly as a leading man. Where Cage in Renfield is the more goofy and unpredictable, Hoult is the more restrained, vulnerable and grounded of the characters in this movie. Same for Awkwafina, who pretty much never disappoints no matter what.
The only problem with Renfield is the narrative and the story structure. Thankfully, it’s not tonally all over the place or convoluted in any shape or form. It’s problem is that it’s an overused and extremely straightforward narrative which by no means brings the movie down in any way. However, with the chance to reinforce some fresh and new treatments to these classic cinematic and literary characters, Renfield is pretty much your standard action comedy, with some key and exciting horror elements. The movie also did features some visuals that looked a tad bit off and considering the budget for this film wasn’t all that cheap or even that expensive, it still was a bit jarring even if it was very brief. It also feels a bit longer in the tooth considering that it’s only a 90 minute movie.
If you’re looking for originality, inventiveness or something radically different then Renfield is unfortunately not going to be that movie for you. However, if you want to see an outstanding performance from the talented Nicolas Cage, tons of head exploding and bodies being ripped apart and solid way to spend your time at the theaters for 90 minutes, then Renfield is the perfect movie for you.
Zane's take at the Cinema's 