Dying of the Light

Lionsgate Home Entertainment | Release Date: December 5, 2014

3.1	USER SCORE Generally unfavorable reviews based on 33 Ratings

USER RATING DISTRIBUTION

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Watch Now

Buy on

Stream On

Expand

Review this movie

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Please sign in or create an account before writing a review.

Check box if your review contains spoilers

0 characters (5000 max)

User Reviews

User score By date Most helpful

quincytheodoreApr 16, 2015

A sick man chasing another sick man, it is as depressingly bad as it sounds, and even worse to witnes . It's a gambit to cast Nicolas Cage movies these days, he might perform well and there's a spark of his former glory, but eventually hisA sick man chasing another sick man, it is as depressingly bad as it sounds, and even worse to witnes . It's a gambit to cast Nicolas Cage movies these days, he might perform well and there's a spark of his former glory, but eventually his performance is either lackluster or overly theatrical. Dying of the Light is no better, this is a severely tedious journey to watch despite the occasional good views. Its intended message of patriotism is buried underneath weak script, missed chemistry and overwhelming lack of thrill for a crime drama.

Evan Lake (Nicolas Cage) is a veteran agent of CIA, he is still vexed by the escape of one terrorist who tortured him decades ago. Believing that the terrorist still lives Lake pursues him before his brain disease incapacitates him further. This is a unique premise, both protagonist and antagonist have debilitating diseases. Lake even uses medical record to track down his prey, so the film wants to depict both sides with a strange common trait of frailty.

Sadly, the acting is inconsistent. At a couple of sequences Cage might seem emotionally spot-on as the disease hampers him, though most of the time he reverts back to maniacal laughs and screams. Anton Yelchin as Milton Schultz is supposed to be Lake's prodigy. The mentor and student relationship feels inauthentic, even though both actors show potential commitment. Script has a very harsh political undertone which may put some viewers off. The overall process is just an exhausting ordeal to watch.

The film moves back and forth from United States and a few exotic locations. Cinematography isn't bad, though it does seem underutilized. It awkwardly pans through a few slow scenes as the actually chase , filled with medical and espionage jargons, is highly uninteresting. If one is looking for action here, it's safe to say that the film offers so little, practically only a couple of scenes of bare bone action and these aren't even that well made.

Dying of the Light is an uninteresting thriller, there's no satisfying conclusion and the effort to make it there is awfully dull.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

All this user's reviews

Tss5078Jul 12, 2017

Evan Lake (Nicholas Cage) was a legend at the C.I.A., but after years in the game, and a particularly horrible experience at the hands of the Taliban, he was diagnosed with dementia, and forced into retirement. Lake is moving on with his lifeEvan Lake (Nicholas Cage) was a legend at the C.I.A., but after years in the game, and a particularly horrible experience at the hands of the Taliban, he was diagnosed with dementia, and forced into retirement. Lake is moving on with his life when new information comes to light, that his old nemesis, a terrorist leader long believed dead, is back. Knowing their best chance to catch him is Lake, they turn to him for help, but can he keep it together long enough to complete his mission? This unbelievably was a b-movie, yet a remarkably strong performance for Nicholas Cage, who randomly had to go between C.I.A. legend and confused old man. His performance is aided by the late Anton Yelchin, playing an analyst who admires Lake so much, that he goes against orders to help him with his mission. The whole dynamic between the man at the end of his career on his last mission, and the boy at the start of his career on his first mission, really added something different, that you don't typically see in espionage films. Dying of The Light really does have a lot to like about it, but one must remember, it is an espionage film and a direct-to-video one at that. The writing isn't spectacular and parts of it are more than somewhat confusing. They also throw in a lot of Evan's flashbacks and delusions at the completely wrong times, which really did start to bother me as the film got more intense. Overall, I did enjoy this film, I thought the acting was terrific, and I loved the dynamic and chemistry between the two leading men, despite the obvious age difference. Dying of The Light certainly isn't a perfect movie, but it's still an entertaining one.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

All this user's reviews

Meth-dudeJan 21, 2018

The acting wasn't particularly good, the story wasn't very original, the movie was predictable and it looked rather cheap. While this isn't the worst recent Nicolas Cage film, it certainly isn't one of the best.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

All this user's reviews