Trust me, Nicolas Cage deserved to win an Oscar for this movie

No one has experienced a renaissance quite like Nicolas Cage. After about a decade of straight-to-DVD failures and Hollywood schlock (Left Behind really should have been left behind), the 60-year-old actor has clawed his way back to A-list status, churning out quality films as though his life depended on it.

That’s not even an exaggeration. During the past two years Cage has been in eight movies, most of which had decent theatrical runs. He has played a serial killer, a vampire, a professor and an assassin-turned-beach-bum. He was even nominated for best actor at this year’s Golden Globes, nearly repeating his success at the 1996 Golden Globes, when he won for his role in Leaving Las Vegas (for which he also won his first and only Oscar).

Cage fending off killer singing robots? What more could you want?Credit:

During this “Cage-aissance” I’ve fallen down a rabbit hole searching for the ultimate Nic Cage experience. Was it during his action-hero days, when he swapped skin with John Travolta in Face/Off? Or has he peaked more recently, as the cagey (I’m sorry), dream-intruding academic in Dream Scenario? These are undeniably great films, top contenders among other stellar Cage movies. But if you’re searching for the epitome of his magic – the je ne sais quoi of his acting prowess – you need only look in one place: Willy’s Wonderland.

This movie flew under the radar. Initially scheduled for a theatrical release in 2020, it was shunted to streaming in 2021 as a result of the pandemic. It follows a nameless man (Cage) who takes on a janitorial job at a run-down family restaurant to pay for his damaged car. Unbeknown to him, the establishment’s animatronic characters are possessed by the souls of a cannibalistic killer and his seven psychotic followers – and they’re out for blood.

The plot alone is enough for me. Cage fending off killer singing robots? Spectacular, give me 14 of them right now. I’m aware some may disregard it as a knock-off of the Five Nights at Freddy’s video game, which, in many ways, it is. The location and premise are closely mirrored, and the graphics in Willy’s are astoundingly glitchy. But what does Willy’s have that Five Nights doesn’t? Cage.

Cage bleeds charisma in every movie. It’s the reason why incredibly simple dialogue, like “put the bunny back in the box” from 1997’s Con Air, is still quoted today. What makes Willy’s stand out in particular is that Cage doesn’t utter a single word throughout the film. Nameless and voiceless, his physical charisma does all the talking.

This is most apparent during the pinball dance interludes. Yes, there are multiple scenes where Cage takes breaks from cleaning and throttling animatronics to drink his aptly named “Punch” juice and play pinball with shocking life-or-death intensity. While fighting demonic ostrich robots he’s cool, calm and collected. While playing pinball (clearly his emotional outlet) he’s sweating, dancing and grunting. Audiences are always saying actors need more range. That is range.

Pulling off a lead silent role, particularly one driven by what is essentially a rip-off of an existing storyline, is no easy feat. Yet Cage does it with such gravitas that you simply can’t take your eyes off him. Even when one of the animatronics has its spine ripped out, a la Mortal Kombat, all I see is Cage, covered in robot oil “blood”, lifting it up like a trophy.

Unlike Five Nights, Willy’s also knows when to call it quits. All the villains are unambiguously killed off by the end, leaving no loose ends to be twisted into a sequel. It’s a perfectly self-contained story, one that doesn’t try to imbue the lead character with some drawn-out traumatic motivation. Cage arrives, cleans, kills, picks up his car, and leaves. It’s not pretending to be anything other than what it is, which is a silly, but bloody good, time.

Cage is a Hollywood chameleon. He seamlessly jumps in and out of vastly different roles while still somehow maintaining that undefinable yet immediately recognisable Cage energy. This energy is on hyperdrive in Willy’s. He may not have won an Oscar for it, but he certainly won my heart.

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