Nicolas Cage has found himself in a very enviable position at this point in his career where he can star in films like this, Color Out of Space, and Willy's Wonderland that feature premises just wild enough to catch the eye and allow him to give the type of bizarre, unhinged performances he's clearly such a fan of, while still having a chance at garnering some sort of following unlike the string of DTV action flicks he started making around 2014 that caused people to write him off Bruce Willis style there for a minute. Because of that, here we get to witness our National Treasure go on a hallucinogenic, Heavy Metal inspired (right down to the animated segments) warpath of revenge against a drugged-out cult and their biker gang allies who may or may not be demonic that are responsible for the death of the woman he loves. It's legitimately one of the best things he's ever done. What works about Mandy is that creator Panos Cosmatos isn't afraid to just be weird with it. Like the way he drenches everything in neon colors or has the characters engage in lengthy, pointless feeling conversations that make first-half kind of boring at points as it fails to capture the deep arthouse vibe he's trying to harness, before leaning into almost full-blown absurdity in the bloodsoaked second portion that's progressively filled with outlandish imagery that could be representing the protagonist's descent into insanity. So although it runs on the same retribution-driven narrative we've seen covered in everything from John Wick to Deadpool, the unique sense of style and grotesque sights give the movie an identity all its own. We're living in a pretty stellar time where filmmakers have evidently figured out how to make effective use of the atypical attributes of Cage's impassioned performances to deliver standout cinema without ever making fun of the actor. It does acknowledge the amusing nature of his one of kind flip outs, but also causes them to make sense in the context of the story through how they express the inner pain of his role. I'm not going to sit here and tell you this is some meaningful exploration of grief and agony as it really is little more than a trippy gorefest you shouldn't be seeking true depth from. Yet, it carries itself with at least some essence of seriousness that prevents it from turning into the ridiculous farce its lead's most meme-worthy efforts (The Wicker Man, Vampire's Kiss, ect.) have been even at its most wild and eccentric. So if watching the dude from Con Air take on the LSD-fueled religious followers of an insecure narcissist with a homemade battle axe sounds like your idea of a good time then give this a watch as it is no joke a highlight of the man's extensive body of work.