Joe

Nicolas Cage is one of those actors you forget can actually act. With a string of recent films that include Stolen, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, and Season of the Witch it’s easy to see why. Every once in a while a film like Joe comes around to remind us just how brilliant Cage can be.

Joe (Cage) is an ex-con with a bad temper who runs his own business killing trees so that companies can come in and do what they want with the land. He’s a simple man who can be the nicest and most trustworthy person if you get on his good side. But get on his bad side, and he can really mess a person up if needed. He ends up forming an unlikely bond with Gary (Tye Sheridan), a young homeless boy with an abusive father. When he sees Gary headed towards the same destructive path he went down, he has the opportunity to change someone’s life for the better.

Joe is all about the relationship between Joe and Gary, and I couldn’t imagine any other actors in the roles other than Nicolas Cage and Tye Sheridan. The chemistry between the two is fantastic. Early on you get the sense that Gary is a good kid who just so happened to end up in a bad situation. He’s willing to put in the hard work required to earn some money. His real father Wade (Gary Poulter), on the other hand, would rather just get drunk all the time and create a mess of himself and the people around him. Joe is the one person who gives him a chance at shaping his own life rather than having other people shape it for him. As a result, the two form a convincing father and son bond even though they’re not related by blood.

Director David Gordon Green does a phenomenal job at crafting this heartfelt story that is full of exceptional and well-thought-out characters. Intimate moments, like Joe teaching Gary how to pick up chicks with the flick of his lighter, make the film special.

With a fantastic story, superb acting, and characters you become attached to, Joe delivers everything you could ask for in a film. It’s one of Nicolas Cage’s finest performances in recent years and yet another amazing role in Tye Sheridan’s growing filmography.