It’s rare to find a truly legendary actor, someone whose multifaceted talents and stellar track record can justify such a lofty moniker. Luckily for all, there are a few performers whose talent has earned them that title, with one of the most deserving being the hilarious, the tearjerking, and even the at-times traumatizing Nicolas Cage. From Vampire’s Kiss to National Treasure, the man has made a name for himself through gripping performances — which is what makes it so unfortunate that a string of lackluster roles means viewers didn’t see him for a while.
He was acting in various projects, but it wasn’t until his recent “renaissance” that general audiences really got to watch him again; recent years saw the actor in both indie and mainstream films that reminded watchers of his talents through projects unlike anything he’d ever done before. Yet even this resurgence has been limiting, with hits like Longlegs showing his skills but pigeonholing him into a character who didn’t allow for the dynamism that Cage was once known for. Thankfully, there was a 2024 film that finally gave him the space he needed, that combined his exceptional approach to horror with the heart-wrenching capabilities that originally made him such a revolutionary actor. Nicolas Cage manages to bring his massive talent to every role, but few spotlight just how great of an actor he is like Benjamin Brewer’s Arcadian.
Nicolas Cage Always Knows What a Role Needs

Image via Shudder

While Arcadian shows how expertly Nicolas Cage can imbue a performance with countless emotions, longtime fans know that this talent isn’t a new one. Since one of his earliest roles as Randy in the cult classic, Valley Girl, the actor has been able to offer a subtly endearing performance that grips audiences while believably offering them whatever emotion his character is trying to elicit. It’s a vital set of skills that only the best performers have, yet even that wasn’t enough to save him from a career slump in the early to mid-2000s. While he was always working, Cage’s filmography during this time is marred with blockbuster bombs and small features that most people don’t even know existed. Whether it be the ironically iconic Wicker Man reboot or the confusingly bad Pay the Ghost, many people began to discount the man as his career strayed further and further away from its initial greatness. Luckily, Cage eventually hit his stride once again, finding success in the genre that is built by outcasts and is as underappreciated as the man’s career had become: indie horror.

Related

One of Nicolas Cage’s Wildest Roles Came in This Lovecraftian Body Horror

The “freaked out abductee” look suits him pretty well.

Nobody was more shocked than longtime fans when Cage starred in 2018’s Mandy, a haunting, psychedelic horror that saw him as a devastated man trying to tear apart every person who robbed him of his love. It offered a refreshing authenticity after years of cheesy premises and cliché plots, and it was only the beginning. The years since have seen the actor take on various other horror roles whose innovative concepts are buoyed by the kind of pulse-pounding performances Cage was once known for. It has led to him becoming one of the biggest stars in the genre, with each new project providing another terrifying performance for fans to love — yet there was still something missing. Because while it’s clear that Cage is perfect for this medium, these roles too often keep him in a specific kind of archetype and rarely allow him out of that box. They are immensely thrilling, but they miss out on the versatility that Cage carried in all of his earliest hits. While astounding in so many ways, these projects were still stifling, and that’s what made 2024’s Arcadian such a marvel.
’Arcadian’s Apocalypse Isn’t One You’d Expect

Image via SXSW

There have been many movies about people struggling to survive the end of the world, but few are as innovatively dreadful as Arcadian. It follows Cage as Paul, a fractured man trying to survive a mysterious apocalypse while raising his two sons, Joseph (Jaeden Martell) and Thomas (Maxwell Jenkins). The three live in the countryside and are besieged every night by hordes of terrifying creatures, with the strict rules Paul enforces upon the boys being meant to protect them from these shadowy beasts. But the boys are beginning to grow up and question the broken world around them, with the film devolving into both monstrous and human horrors as the fragile safety Paul had managed to build begins to break. It’s a thrilling premise that balances family drama and apocalyptic horror perfectly, all while offering an origin to the monsters — theories stemming from the impact of changing ecosystems on bugs and potentially even mutant hybrids — unlike your usual zombie or plague fare. For all of its inventive scares, though, it’s how the movie utilizes every aspect of this mythic actor that truly allows it to thrive.
Paul is a stern, often harsh man, harkening back to many of the gruff yet lovable characters Cage has played throughout his career. Yet while the film relies on this ample experience for the gritty survival elements, it’s shocking to watch how seamlessly the actor is able to portray a caring father who just wants to protect his sons. It’s a gravity that is often lost in similar projects, with Cage layering a sense of fatherly worry into every scene he’s in, that fleshes out Paul as a character while making his fear and love so much more resonant for all watching. He spends so much of the film as the valiant horror protagonist that viewers expect, while punctuating this performance with vulnerable moments of emotion, small scenes of trying to hide just how scared he is from his sons, that Cage is able to carry with barely any sound or physical action.
Arcadian is a scary world already, yet this character helps audiences understand that the true horror isn’t what the monsters can do to you — it’s what they want to do to the people you love the most. It’s a kind of frailty that Cage is so rarely allowed to attempt, with the movie recognizing the various different roles he’s played and drawing from them all to paint a complex image of what a father in this situation would actually be experiencing. It recognizes that this actor is renowned for his versatility, and it draws from that to create a legitimately endearing character who makes this plot both totally horrific and utterly heartwarming.
‘Arcadian’ Sees Nicolas Cage for All He Can Do

While Arcadian shirks your usual doomsday conventions by allowing Cage to flex his skills, it is at times bogged down by some of the more banal performances around him. While his sons are each given moments to shine, both boys have too many moments of rebellion that appear more as foolishness in this apocalypse scenario rather than realistic angst. Yet while other characters can falter at times, the movie is grounded by Cage and a willingness to allow the actor to carry the performance on his own.
It’s a perfect summation of the many roles he’s mastered over the years, with hints of patronly heartache mixing with badass horror elements to create a shockingly relatable example of someone just trying to keep those around them safe in a terrifying, unbelievable situation. This portrayal would only be possible from someone who knows how to embody these themes, which his long list of previous performances attest to his exceptional ability to do. It’s rare that Nicolas Cage is given a role that lets him show all sides of his many talents, and by finally allowing him to do that, Arcadian sticks out as one of his best performances to date.
Arcadian is Available to Stream on AMC+ in the U.S.
WATCH ON AMC+

Arcadian

Release Date

April 12, 2024

Runtime

92 Minutes

Director

Benjamin Brewer

Writers

Michael Nilon