The 15 Best Nicolas Cage Movies

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He's been praised, applauded, mocked, and maligned, but nary substance what, Oscar-winner Nicolas Cage has fixed his everything; pouring his bosom and psyche into each movie relation he's had. Occasionally his go-for-broke originative choices person led him into the bosom of Meme Country, but there's nary denying Cage's vigorous, explosive talent.

He's been successful acclaimed rom-coms, soul-crushing dramas, and of course, immoderate of the biggest and champion enactment hits of the 1990s. Nic Cage's resume is truthful dense successful fact, that we've allowed this "Best Of" to go to 15, alternatively than the accustomed apical 10. He's worked with powerhouse directors similar David Lynch, Martin Scorsese, Michael Bay, Ridley Scott, and his ain uncle, Francis Ford Coppola, turning successful immoderate of the astir memorable performances successful movie history. (Speaking of memorable, beryllium definite to besides spot the 40 champion Nicolas Cage moments written by a Cage superfan who has seen each Nic Cage film.)

Having tackled each genre determination is successful his 4 decades of acting; whether it's redeeming San Francisco from a chemic state onslaught oregon heading to Las Vegas for a lethal bender to—well, play himself—in a meta-adventure astir his ain career, these are our picks for Nicolas Cage's champion movies ever.

15. Red Rock West (1993)

After an awesome debut tally successful the '80s, Nic Cage's '90s were an eclectic premix of blockbusters, rom-com chaos, and gritty transgression dramas—much similar Red Rock West, from neo-noir notable John Dahl. Cage played a down-on-his-luck discharged Marine whose hunt for honorable enactment successful Wyoming plunges him into a murder-for-hire messiness betwixt Dennis Hopper, J.T. Walsh, and Lara Flynn Boyle. This suspenseful gem featured much of a subdued "everyman" show from Cage, starring him into bigger enactment leader roles down the line.

14. Kick-Ass (2010)

Cage wasn't the headlining prima of Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass, a full-throttle adaptation of the Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr. comic series, but helium stood retired successful a super-duper supporting relation arsenic Big Daddy, the Batman-style vigilante who raised his daughter, Hit-Girl, to beryllium conscionable arsenic violently unforgiving of transgression arsenic helium was. Cage got to walk his enactment leader torch to a caller unit of young successful this pre-MCU hero-verse of Rated R mayhem.

Read our Kick-Ass review.

13. Longlegs (2024)

Nicolas Cage seemed to clasp each his crazed passions and eccentricities astatine once, unleashing an unhinged translation arsenic a satanic doll shaper successful Osgood Perkins' astonishment deed Longlegs. The communicative of a haunted FBI cause (Maika Monroe) tracking a bid of connected-yet-unexplainable murders was ambitiously accentuated by Cage's performance, which was inspired by everything from Heath Ledger's Joker to falsetto ukulele subordinate Tiny Tim to his ain mother. Cage rolled each manic, memed movie country of his cinematic catalogue into 1 bundle for this portrayal of a madman hiding successful plain sight.

Read our Longlegs review.

12. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022)

Nicolas Cage recovered himself successful a spot of a vocation resurgence successful 2022 arsenic caller captious indifference benignant of spun afloat ellipse into a newfound appreciation arsenic the loopy, delightful movie The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent deed theaters and Cage delighted audiences arsenic a pompously saccharine mentation of himself, getting caught up successful an comedic espionage escapade aft accepting a cardinal bucks to be a affluent super-fan’s day bash. The movie works arsenic an absurdly amusive and winking bookend for Cage's vocation (which isn't implicit yet, of course).

Read our The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent Review.

11. Pig (2021)

Cage garnered immoderate of the champion reviews of his career, and adjacent immoderate Oscar buzz, for 2021's Pig, the amazingly moving communicative astir an isolated Oregon truffle-hunter whose beloved pig gets kidnapped. It's a mesmerizing odyssey astir emotion and nonaccomplishment that deftly plays against expectations, reminding america however wholly captivating Nic Cage tin beryllium successful sad, subtle roles.

Read our Pig review.

10. Con Air (1997)

Con-Air is an perfectly preposterous joyousness thrust from commencement to finish. As a fast-moving blast-em-up, Con Air keeps its lingua firmly successful its feature arsenic Cage, and his upwind blown hair, embody Cameron Poe, an Army Ranger who gets convicted of manslaughter and indispensable hitch a thrust aboard a situation transport level afloat of the worst criminals imaginable. When John Malkovich's psycho mastermind Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom takes implicit the flight, it puts Poe's plans to reunite with his woman and girl successful danger, causing this terse Terminator to combat back. It's a rambunctious, over-the-top classic.

9. Wild astatine Heart (1990)

Cage and co-star Laura Dern sizzled and steamed arsenic Sailor and Lula successful David Lynch's unbridled romance, Wild astatine Heart. It's a sultry love-on-the-run acheronian drama that allowed Cage and Dern to pat into their craziness portion besides bringing Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" into dense rotation connected MTV. Winner of the Palme d'Or astatine the 1990 Cannes Film Festival, Wild astatine Heart is an insane must-see, arsenic polarizing arsenic a Lynch movie tin get.

8. National Treasure (2004)

The archetypal of Cage's 2 mini-franchises (the different being Ghost Rider), National Treasure was Indiana Jones with United States history. Cage leads arsenic treasure huntsman and cryptographer portion Benjamin Gates indispensable bargain the Declaration of Independence successful bid to support hidden golden retired of the hands of a transgression boss. It's a strong, delightfully dorky household escapade outing for Cage, who dedicated astir of his vocation to the offbeat and outlandish.

Read our National Treasure review.

7. The Rock (1996)

The Rock is 1 of the purest, astir cleanable '90s Michael Bay extravaganzas, with Cage and Sean Connery teaming up to thwart home terrorists' plans to annihilate the Bay Area. Cage got to premix his quirky indie movie drama chops into an underdog enactment leader arsenic Stanley Goodspeed, a biochemist successful implicit his head. He's surrounded by existent soldiers meant to support him and rises to the juncture by becoming a afloat champion. The Rock, arsenic awesome and grandiose arsenic it was, solidified Cage arsenic a viable subordinate successful the realm of mega-movies.

6. Mandy (2018)

Cage's superior, standout movie from 2018—that wasn't a dependable relation successful either Teen Titans Go! To the Movies oregon Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse—was the psychedelic madhouse Mandy. The movie is astir a peaceful logger, Red, surviving successful the woods of the Pacific Northwest successful the '80s, whose beingness gets horrifically upended by a deranged cult. Red past spirals into surreal rampage of vengeance, equipped with with a crossbow and axe. Mandy is artful gonzo unit mixed with feral performances and altered states. It's 1 of Cage's astir triumphant modern flicks.

Read our Mandy review.

5. Raising Arizona (1987)

One of Cage's archetypal starring roles came successful 1 of the Coen Brothers' archetypal diagnostic films, Raising Arizona. As perpetual convict H.I. McDunnough, Cage emanated cartoonish sweetness arsenic helium and Holly Hunter's Edwina helped themselves to 1 of a section couples' newborn pentuplets (Nathan Jr., we think) due to the fact that the insubstantial said "they got much than they tin handle." What follows is the astir joyful, rollicking, absurd movie about—er—child kidnapping ever, that some solidified Cage arsenic a formidably comic performer and the Coens arsenic cockeyed craftsmen.

Read our Raising Arizona review.

4. Valley Girl (1983)

In Nic Cage's second-ever movie, helium landed his archetypal starring relation arsenic 1 fractional of a star-crossed rom-com duo. 1983's Valley Girl was cardinal successful introducing "valley" civilization (and "valleyspeak") to the remainder of America, arsenic Deborah Foreman plays picture-perfect Julie of the materialistic, mall-obsessed San Fernando Valley. You tin conjecture what comes adjacent arsenic Julie falls for the brooding Hollywood punk, Randy (Cage). It's an adorable, amiable, young emotion communicative that showcased Cage's charisma and locked him into fantastic romanticist pb roles for years following.

3. Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

Nicolas Cage became 1 of the few, elite performers successful the concern to triumph a Best Actor Oscar. Cage was awarded this for Mike Figgis' Leaving Las Vegas, a almighty portion of '90s grime astir a antheral with a sad, singular plan: spell to Las Vegas and portion yourself to death. Co-starring Elisabeth Shue (who received a Best Actress nomination), Leaving Las Vegas is simply a hard, dense watch, but besides a crucial, fantabulous illustration of yesteryear indie cinema. It's riveting and acheronian representation of self-destruction.

2. Moonstruck (1987)

At lone 22 years old, Nic Cage made a huge, hilarious splash other Cher successful the Oscar-nominated container bureau hit, Moonstruck. This instant classical rom-com features Cher arsenic a widow, Loretta, who thinks her emotion beingness is cursed, portion Cage plays the wily, resentful member of Loretta's caller fiancé. Loretta learns to judge successful impulsive, passionate emotion successful this winning, endearing emotion communicative that gave america 1 of Cage's earliest, and best, over-the-top enactment deliveries. Moonstruck, similar Cage himself, is timeless.

1. Face/Off (1997)

Face/Off is considered by galore to beryllium the "ultimate John Woo movie" for respective reasons. Firstly, it employs each of the director’s Hong Kong cinema hallmarks (double guns, doves, guns drawn connected each other, etc.) but it besides afloat engages successful its preposterous premise to the constituent wherever you're in, baby. You don't question it for a 2nd and conscionable spell on for the insane ride. On apical of this, Nic Cage, and co-star John Travolta, were 2 of the biggest movie stars successful the satellite astatine the time, and this movie squeezes them for each the dopamine transportation they’re worth. These 2 got to play some leader and villain successful the aforesaid movie, adjacent unleashing flimsy impersonations of each different successful the process; and for Cage, it was a accidental to showcase each operatic quality helium brings to the array arsenic an actor.

Upcoming Nicolas Cage Movies

Nicolas Cage's acting vocation continues connected successful earnest with aggregate upcoming films. Below, you tin spot what's coming up adjacent for the histrion this twelvemonth and successful the years ahead: