13 best Nicolas Cage movies ranked from ridiculous to really great

4. Mandy

Get ready for an experience like no other with Mandy, a surreal and dreamlike movie that’s both beautiful and horrific. The horror film follows a couple living in seclusion in the ’80s, whose content lifestyle in the wilderness is completely shattered when the wife is abducted by a group of sadistic cult members passing by. The husband, played by Nicolas Cage, then embarks on a journey of revenge by trying to take down the cult.

Director Panos Cosmatos uses distinct aesthetics influenced by horror movies of the ’80s, and the movie features a vibrant color palette that creates a hallucinatory world of love, loss, and vengeance. It’s a fantastic film that will completely transport you into the Shadow Mountains. Cage gives a performance of a lifetime.

VERDICT: Really Great

3. Pig

Another emotional one on this list is Pig, which came out in 2021. The movie sees Cage take on a complex character who is much more subdued than his previous roles. He plays a former chef named Rob living in isolation out in the woods with his prized pig, who helps him hunt for truffles. Though he lives a peaceful life, all of that is ruined one night when a group comes to his home and steals his pig. Similar to Mandy, Cage’s character in Pig is motivated by love and loss, stopping at nothing to take back what is his.

Rob and a colleague named Amir travel to Portland to Rob’s old stomping grounds as they try and figure out who took the pig, and along the way, Rob must face past traumas. The movie is a profound exploration of the meaning of life, and Cage’s performance is widely regarded as his strongest in years. The actor himself believes it’s his best film, saying he feels like he “entered the room” with his performance.

VERDICT: Really Great