Released By: Anchor Bay
Released On: 06/19/2012
Director: Roger Donaldson
Cast: Nicholas Cage, Guy Pearce, January Jones, Xander Berekely
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The Film:

Nicholas Cage returns to New Orleans, though not as the Bad Lieutenant this time, as Will Gerard, a mild-mannered high school teacher in Roger Donaldson's Seeking Justice. Spending his days dealing with inner-city kids and attempting to teach them the differences between right and wrong, he finds his life flipped on its side when his wife Laura (January Jones) is brutally beaten and raped on a dark side street. When a man named Simon shows up at the hospital, claiming that he knows who the rapist is and offering to “take care of him” for a favour to be determined later, Will puts his sense of right and wrong aside and takes Simon up on his offer. True to his word, the rapist is found shot dead in his grimy apartment, and Will and Laura set about putting their lives back in order.

But as it is to be expected, the story doesn't end there. Simon makes contact with Will shortly thereafter, and the favour he asks sounds simple; Will needs to deliver a letter to a specific mailbox at a specific time. Will agrees on the condition that this is the last time that he'll hear from Simon, not knowing that he's now in debt to Simon's vigilante organization, who are dedicated to ridding the city of New Orleans of criminals. When he's set up for the murder of a well-known journalist, Will finds out how deep this network of do-gooders goes, and, unable to count on his friends or the corrupt police department, is forced to take matters into his own hands.

Seeking Justice is actually a pretty entertaining film despite a few noticeable flaws. Critics of Nicholas Cage's brand of overacting will take exception with his performance in a number of spots, but it has to be said that he does play the film straight and serious for the most part. Countering the criticism of non-acting on the lead's part, however are some solid supporting cast performances, most notably from Guy Pearce, who plays Simon with a bang on balance of trusting good nature and malice. Likewise, January Jones, who most viewers will recognize from Mad Men, breaks out of her Betty Draper mold and proves that she's capable of acting beyond the vintage Americana housewife that she's most known for.

The screenwriters and director Roger Donaldson have also made a great decision to shoot the film in New Orleans, utilizing the charisma and atmosphere of the Big Easy to their advantage…charming and friendly during the day, the city exudes a sinister feeling of dread once the sun goes down. Whether or not it was for the tax breaks that Louisiana offers filmmakers, the choice of location was ideal, and Donaldson and crew take advantage of a number of well-known locations. The post-Katrina condemned locations also add to the story; how else could you have a full-on gunfight in the middle of a city with nobody coming to find out what's going on?

Despite Cage's occasional wild eyes and overdone outbursts, and a couple of eyebrow-raising plot holes, Seeking Justice is definitely worth seeing, and a solid checkmark on Donaldson's somewhat sketchy report card.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Anchor Bay brings Seeking Justice to blu-ray with a decent looking 2.35:1 transfer. The film is dark overall, with lots of night scenes and indoor shots, but detail is strong with good contrast and solid black levels. The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio track is also strong, with dialogue remaining clear and consistent, and also taking advantage of the sub and surrounds during the action sequences. Both the audio and video appear to be free from artifacts and other blemishes.

The only extra feature on the disc is a short Behind the Scenes featurette, which consists of the actors and filmmakers discussing the aspects of making the movie.

The Final Word:

Flawless? Absolutely not. But aside from the few things mentioned, Seeking Justice is what a film should be, first and foremost; entertaining.