'Tokarev' Trailer: Nicolas Cage Does What He Has To Do

At one point in the trailer for Tokarev, the new thriller by Paco Cabezas, a stern old cop played by Danny Glover warns Nicolas Cage's ex-criminal character not to fall back into old habits. Cage's character does not seem terribly interested in that advice, and based on the mere fact that Cage is in this movie at all, neither is Cage himself.

Though Cage's next big-screen appearance will be in David Gordon Green's Joe, a gritty Southern drama that's been earning high praise all over the film festival circuit, Tokarev brings him right back to the cheesy genre territory where he more often resides these days. As you'd expect, it's chock full of violence and overwrought angst, with at least two scenes of Cage majorly freaking out. Check out the trailer after the jump.

[via JoBlo]

The trailer starts out looking like Nicolas Cage's Taken, as a bad guy chooses to kidnap a pretty young woman (Aubrey Peeples) from the wrong family. But unlike in Taken, Cage's Paul Maguire is a former criminal, not a retired CIA agent, and the daughter winds up dead pretty quickly. Paul then embarks on a revenge quest that's inextricably linked to his shadowy criminal past.

Cage is still a fine actor when he wants to be — some reviews of Joe even call it his best performance ever – but low-rent thrillers like these have become his bread and butter. This looks no better than your average Cage cheapie, but not quite awful enough to fall into the "so bad it's good" category. Mostly, it just looks dull.

But if Cage in angsty, angry mode is your thing, have at it when Tokarev opens sometime in 2014. Rachel Nichols, Max Ryan, Pavel and Peter Stormare also star.