" When a devastating illness threatens to end Evan Lake's career in the CIA, he goes rogue to hunt down a terrorist who tortured him during a mission gone awry years ago ." Sounds exciting right? Think again. Dying of the Light, starring Nicolas Cage and written and directed by Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver and Raging Bull ), should be renamed "Dying from Mediocrity".
What could have been a fascinating film that explores the depths of dealing with frontotemporal dementia while struggling to close an unresolved chapter from the past degenerates into a rather flat film with a lackluster performance by Nicolas Cage. Even the action scenes aren't particularly entertaining. The film is especially disappointing when you come expecting to see some of the glimpses of greatness found in the scripts of Taxi Driver and Raging Bull . And even without those high hopes, it's hard not to feel like whatever potential the film had because of the interesting juxtaposition of physical illness, age, time, resentment and revenge is never realized. On the bright side, Alexander Karim had onscreen presence and made his role as a terrorist interesting.
Our rating: 5 Steps out of 10
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