sympathy for the devil movie review

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I’m really not trying to make a cute play on words by calling “Sympathy for the Devil” godawful.

Directed by Yuval Adler from a script by Luke Paradise and co-produced by star Nicolas Cage , who's once again leaning hard into his “throwing garbage against the wall to see if it sticks” mode of accepting projects, this is kinda-sorta what they call in the theater a “two-hander,” one in which the beleaguered Ordinary Dude played by Joel Kinnaman runs afoul of a maniacal evildoer taking him on the opposite of a joy ride, at gunpoint, out of Las Vegas and into the unknown. 

We learn right off the bat that Kinnaman’s character, unnamed at this point—he’ll get two names later, but family members call him David—is about to be a father. He’s driving to a hospital to be with his wife after he’s dropped off his adorable tow-headed little fella. In a parking garage, though, is a guy with deep scarlet hair, a demonic goatee, and a revolver—that’s Cage (did you guess?), whose character is also unnamed. (He plays “ The Passenger ,” you see, and this lack-of-nomenclature gambit can work if the movie is good enough—see Walter Hill ’s “ The Driver ”—but feels pretentious when the movie is, well, this.)

The problem we have right from the get-go is that neither of these personages gives the viewer much to care about. Sure, Kinnaman’s about to be a dad for the second time, but we know plenty of bad and indifferent folks who are fathers. As for Cage’s character, he’s not a character at all. He’s a Nic Cage mood ring designed to allow Nic Cage to do all sorts of wacky Nic Cage stuff. He sweats. He bugs out his eyes. He grins maniacally. He yells. He shrieks. He puts Alicia Bridges’ “I Love the Nightlife” on the jukebox at a diner he’s about to shoot up and dances to the song while bellowing the lyrics. At this point in the movie, about 52 minutes in, I figured I should be earning combat pay for continuing to watch.

Is there a plot? Well, yes. Cage’s character insists he knows David from long ago. Given the actions he describes—criminal bookkeeping, insanity, murder, lots of shady underworld figures—it sounds like that “long ago” was maybe the 1995 Sundance Film Festival, where lots of would-be Tarantino clones were thriving.

When the narrative isn’t tiring us, Cage talks about what his revolver will do to Kinnaman if and when he shoots him in the face or the back of the head. Does the verbal description of getting shot in the head or face make the prospective shooting victim more fearful than the mere presence of a gun pointed at those areas? So this movie believes. Although this may be more a matter of filling up time, giving Cage “provocative” things to say in this pointless exercise. Maybe during one of his drafts, screenwriter Paradise figured out he was leaning on the device pretty hard because there’s a line late in the film where the character refers to the habit. Cage also says things like, “The truth is rarely plain and never simple,” and he shows a lot of nerve when he upbraids Kinnaman's character for his “cliched” family story.

This is not, I should clarify, strictly a two-hander. There’s a cop, guess what happens to him, and there are diner staffers and customers. Guess what happens to them. “We still have miles to go before we sleep,” Cage’s ostensible Devil says early in the movie. And indeed, it does feel endless.

Now playing in theaters. 

Glenn Kenny

Glenn Kenny was the chief film critic of Premiere magazine for almost half of its existence. He has written for a host of other publications and resides in Brooklyn. Read his answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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Sympathy for the Devil (2023)

Nicolas Cage as The Passenger

Joel Kinnaman as The Driver

Kaiwi Lyman as Colleague

Burns Burns as Owner

Cameron Lee Price as Cop

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• Yuval Adler
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‘sympathy for the devil’ review: an unhinged nicolas cage drives a standard if enjoyable road thriller.

Joel Kinnaman co-stars in Yuval Adler’s violent two-hander about a driver and passenger engaging in a long duel of death.

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Like the pain scales that doctors show patients in order to assess their level of discomfort, whether or not you’ll appreciate the new Nicolas Cage movie, Sympathy for the Devil , depends on how high you’re willing to go on the Cage scale of screen acting. Are you a level 2 or 3 fan, preferring the subdued, solemn turns in films like Leaving Las Vegas or the recent Pig ? Or are you more of a level 8 or 9 person, partial to the batshit crazy performances in Deadfall , Vampire’s Kiss , Bad Lieutenant and Mandy ?

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Directed by Yuval Adler ( The Operative ) from a script by newcomer Luke Paradise, Sympathy is a short and sinister Las Vegas-set thriller that asks viewers the following basic question: What would you do if you were about to arrive at the hospital where your wife was to give birth, and Cage suddenly climbed into the back seat of your car, looking like a cross between Ming the Merciless and a magician at Caesars Palace? Also, he’s holding a gun to your head and talking a mile a minute in the way only Cage can do.

That’s the predicament faced by Kinnaman’s nameless driver, who’s subjected to all sorts of brutal treatment by Cage’s nameless passenger as the two hit the road and head out of town toward a rendezvous in Boulder City. At first blush, Cage seems to have mistaken Kinnaman for a mob accountant who ratted out their boss back in South Boston (Cage’s Boston accent is highly approximative here), and has been hiding out in the Vegas area for years.

That last scene goes on for a good reel or two, putting Sympathy up there with Pulp Fiction and Natural Born Killers in the pantheon of movies featuring explosive diner sequences, where customers get more than their money’s worth of violence and mayhem. Indeed, Paradise’s script has a very 90s vibe to it, from the gruesome action to Cage’s constant banter to the guessing game we keep playing as we start to wonder who, in fact, is the real “devil” of the title.

It’s nothing original, but it’s watchable and even a bit fun thanks to the star’s nonstop antics. Adler, an Israeli filmmaker whose award-winning 2013 debut, Bethlehem , was a powerful thriller about his homeland’s political conflicts, shoots things simply and capably, avoiding overcutting while favoring medium or wide shots to follow the action. The movie is set entirely at night, allowing cinematographer Steve Holleran ( Missing ) to slap on lots of red filters that channel the satanic fury of Cage’s off-the-wall creation. Together, director and DP manage to capture the actor in true form, but they never contain him.

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Sympathy for the Devil review – a top-tier unhinged Nicolas Cage performance

Forced to drive a mysterious passenger at gunpoint, David finds himself embroiled in a confusing, high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse

I f you were programming a season of the best of the worst from Nicolas Cage’s filmography – in other words, his most interesting/outlandish/crazed performances in low-budget films – this kooky thriller would certainly be a good candidate. It features an entertainingly deranged performance from Cage, who sports a helmet of bright-red hair and a maroon smoking jacket that makes him look like a leprechaun turned lounge singer, topped off with a broad Boston accent. Cage’s unnamed character crawls without invitation into the car of David (Joel Kinnaman, an excellent straight foil here), who is already late getting to the hospital where his wife is giving birth. Despite David’s protestations that he’s not a taxi or Uber, he pulls a gun on David and insists he start driving. Who would dare to say no to someone with such bright gleaming teeth?

Given the title, viewers might be forgiven for expecting that Cage will turn out to be old Lucifer himself, come to reap his due. It turns out that he is not who you might think he is, but director Yuval Adler and screenwriter Luke Paradise keep up the mystery to the very end, including what’s up with David. The latter’s story remains intriguingly vague throughout: he insists he’s just a guy stressed out about what’s going on at the hospital, where his wife, heard on the phone only, is going through a second difficult birth, but he has a few nifty moves of his own, suggesting there might be more than meets the eye here.

The main set piece – so tightly choreographed that it could almost be standalone short – is a diner scene in which the two stop to get something to eat while the passenger is still holding a gun in his pocket. The bit where Cage orders a tuna melt from Alexis Zollicoffer’s sarky waitress feels like an homage to Jack Nicholson’s immortal food substitution request in Five Easy Pieces. That’s followed up by some delicious goofy dancing and singing along to Alicia Bridges’ disco classic I Love the Nightlife, which no doubt will get Cage fans going over-the-top whooping in the aisles. Even if the ending is a bit of a letdown, otherwise it’s a gas.

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Sympathy for the Devil Review

A standard indie thriller, except for one thing: nicolas cage.

Sympathy for the Devil premieres in theaters July 28

Realism’s stranglehold on film acting has conditioned American moviegoers to to reject stylized performances as inherently laughable. This becomes a particular issue when discussing the work of Nicolas Cage, whose ironic popularity over the past decade revolves around the concept of “Cage rage”: those moments when the Oscar winner pushes himself to extremes on camera. And yes, if the tone of the portrayal doesn’t match the tone of the film, that can get silly. But if you get out of Cage’s way, he’ll take you where you need to go. Sympathy for the Devil understands this.

The title makes it sound like a horror movie, and Cage’s costuming – his hair is dyed red and black, and he wears a suit jacket to match – suggests an Angel Heart/“Louis Cyphere” (say the name out loud) type of situation. And the film does tease the potential for supernatural elements throughout its quick 90-minute runtime. But, for the most part, this is a crime thriller, driven by monologues, mistaken identity, and a soundtrack of vintage soul tracks that fit the mood and make for pleasant travel companions.

Joel Kinnaman co-stars as “The Driver,” an ordinary schmuck who, as the story begins, is driving down the Las Vegas Strip on his way to the hospital where his (unnamed) wife is in labor with their second child. The Driver pulls into the hospital parking garage, parks, and is rooting through his hospital bag when a mystery man – played by Cage and referred to in the credits as “The Passenger” – forces his way into the backseat and pulls a gun. “Drive,” he says.

The Driver begs The Passenger to spare him: He’s a family man, please just let him go back to the hospital, it’s an emergency, etc. The Passenger doesn’t care. They keep going, out of the city and into the desert. From there, most of the film is a two-hander that takes place inside the confines of The Driver’s car. Kinnaman, best known for his roles on The Killing and Altered Carbon as well as in the Suicide Squad movies , holds his own. But a good bit of his role involves looking nervously in the rearview mirror as Cage monologues in the back seat – which is perfect.

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Cage must have been taken with writer Luke Paradise’s script; he’s listed as a producer in the credits (which isn't always the case for the actor's prolific output), and this is Paradise’s first screenplay to actually get made. And Cage sells his lines with gusto, tormenting Kinnaman with his paranoiac ravings. A few miles into their drive, The Passenger starts needling The Driver to tell him who he really is, which adds a layer of intrigue: Is The Passenger misinformed, or is The Driver hiding something? Eventually, they pull into a roadside diner, where the tension explodes in bloody, fiery Tarantino-esque fashion.

The way that the conflict between The Driver and The Passenger plays out is pure crime cliché. And the story starts to lose momentum once The Driver’s true intentions are revealed. But the journey to get there is compelling, thanks to Cage’s performance.

The Passenger is a manic, possibly psychotic career criminal with a Boston accent who likes to wave his gun around with the safety off, and Cage plays all of his tics to the rafters. He takes the audience on a roller-coaster ride, careening from weepy despair to anger so intense his eyeballs bulge out of their sockets. But there’s an honest wild-card danger to the portrayal as well: A scene where Cage dances to “I Love the Nightlife (Disco ’Round)” brushes up against camp, but shifts back to menace before the snickering really settles.

Everything else about Sympathy for the Devil is professional, but unexceptional. The color grading is your standard digital orange and blue, and the cinematography is unobtrusive save for a handful of slo-mo shots that stick out in a negative way. And the effects and overall production value are impressive, given the film’s presumably modest budget. This is a team that knows how to allocate its resources wisely – which includes letting Nicolas Cage do his thing.

Sympathy for the Devil is a standard indie thriller, except for one thing: Nicolas Cage’s performance as a mysterious, possibly supernatural gunman who takes an unwitting family man on a pulpy, violent ride into the Nevada desert. Cage brings genuine menace to his manic role, and co-star Joel Kinnaman holds his own as the straight man. Where the story lands is predictable, but the journey there is fun and full of tension.

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Sympathy for the Devil Reviews

The sympathy should be for Nic Cage. My how the mighty has fallen.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/10 | Sep 22, 2023

Even if the ending is a bit of a letdown, otherwise it’s a gas.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 6, 2023

Cage is unhinged and off his trolley (we wouldn’t want it any other way) but keeps eerily calm, or at least eerily repressed, for a lot of it, concealing his psychotic insides and biding his time.

Full Review | Aug 30, 2023

Sometimes, it's just fun to watch Nicolas Cage unravel Nicolas Cage style.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 30, 2023

If you’re looking for a neat, bowtie ending here, you’ll be out of luck. “Sympathy” raises as many questions as it answers, practically forcing the viewer to come to their own moral and ethical conclusions.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 12, 2023

Adler’s efficient direction and a Cage unleashed aren’t enough to keep viewers on the hook in this sparse story.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Aug 10, 2023

Sympathy for the Devil runs out of gas and fails to capitalize on another burning bright performance from Mr. Nicolas Cage.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 9, 2023

Sympathy for the Devil is an intentionally dark and violent dramedy/satire that showcases Nicolas Cage's penchant for playing weird and unhinged characters. Viewers should not expect a fully serious drama. The movie brings some laughs with the suspense.

Full Review | Aug 9, 2023

It's only for Cage apologists who think everything he does is a work of genius.

Full Review | Original Score: D | Aug 9, 2023

The story fails to extend anywhere beyond another rudimentary battle of wits.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Aug 8, 2023

Nic Cage not only swings for the rafters in Sympathy for the Devil, but he elevates material that could have been less intriguing.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Aug 7, 2023

Swift, fun and incredibly straightforward, Sympathy For the Devil showcases good performances from it's two leads yet fumbles the bag with it's lacklustre plot.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Aug 6, 2023

Sympathy of the Devil is a fun thriller that has some action and some, minimal, horror elements. It’s enjoyable and entertaining, it brings Cage to full capacity, and it gives the viewer something that they can get into from start to finish.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 6, 2023

So taut and lean that it doesn't even pause to give its characters names, this cat-and-mouse thriller succeeds thanks to vigorous performances by Kinnaman and Cage.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 5, 2023

Cage can be an exceptional actor when he wants to be, don't get me wrong. I just wish he wanted to be more than once every ten years.

Full Review | Original Score: 0.5/4 | Aug 5, 2023

Oscar winner chews the scenery in this slick but superficial road movie.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 4, 2023

Cage's latest picture isn't awful, exactly—not in the bold, nutty manner of Drive Angry or Bangkok Dangerous or any of his earlier misfires. Sympathy is worse, in a way—it's dull.

Full Review | Aug 4, 2023

The film drifts from the loglines of Collateral to Something Wild to A History of Violence hoping that Nicolas Cage's stale wide-eyed antics will shake us into anything but embarrassment for his performance.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Aug 3, 2023

Ultimately, the main draw is – without a doubt – Nicolas Cage’s edgy, hilariously enigmatic performance.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Aug 1, 2023

Nicolas Cage and Joel Kinnaman in a mostly two-handed thriller

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Jul 31, 2023

'Sympathy for the Devil' Review: Nicolas Cage Unleashes Hell

Despite the movie's lackluster story, Nicolas Cage and Joel Kinnaman are a strong duo in ‘Sympathy for the Devil.’

This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the film being covered here wouldn't exist. A carjacking thriller starring Nicolas Cage and Joel Kinnaman ( The Suicide Squad ) is an easy sell. Both stars are incredibly talented, so the idea of them working together is enough to bring fans to theaters. However, while Sympathy for the Devil does deliver powerful performances from its leads, the movie gets dragged down by a by-the-numbers approach to storytelling.

Sympathy for the Devil follows David (Kinnaman) as he drives to the hospital after his wife has gone into labor. Unfortunately, as soon as David arrives at the hospital, he's taken hostage by a stranger with a red leather jacket and a twitchy finger on the trigger of a gun (Cage). At first, David thinks he's being robbed, but the stranger wants them to drive from Las Vegas to Boulder City. The movie takes place during this anxiety-inducing road trip, as David tries to escape and the stranger wreaks havoc everywhere they go.

While David and the stranger will cross different people and stop at a few places along the way, the core of Sympathy for the Devil is the battle of wits between captor and prisoner. Trapped inside the car, the two men play a dangerous cat-and-mouse game, trying to explore each other's weaknesses. The driver wants to return to the hospital and ensure his kidnapper won't follow him or hurt his family. On the other hand, the passenger seems to have mistaken David for another person and keeps playing sick games to force his victim to confess the supposed truth.

RELATED: 'Sympathy for the Devil': Trailer, Cast, Release Date, and What to Expect

'Sympathy for the Devil' Is More Formulaic Than Frightening

While it's entertaining to see Cage and Kinnaman carry the tension, there is a lingering mystery in Sympathy for the Devil that falls short. The story does what it can to keep its secrets, with the passenger dropping hints instead of revealing his true intentions right away. Yet, the experience of Sympathy for the Devil is not surprising. On the contrary, everything plays out as expected, which can be disappointing considering the long build-up before the reveal.

Sympathy for the Devil also plays it safe regarding dialogue, relying on common expressions that would sound flat if it wasn't for Cage's and Kinnaman's electric performances. When the movie then tries to explore grief and trauma, the script's approach to these themes is so undercooked that, by the time the credits roll, it feels like a film with nothing relevant to say. That's a shame, as delving deeper into the psyche of its main characters may have elevated this formulaic thriller.

On the directing front, Yuval Adler also falls short of giving Sympathy for the Devil a unique voice. For instance, the shaky camera doesn't add anything to the movie. Besides that, the framing keeps the characters too far away to capture the nuances of Cage's and Kinnaman's performances, which should be mandatory in a film so focused on human interactions. There's nothing visually striking in Sympathy for the Devil , even in the movie's central set pieces. It would be a forgettable thriller if not for Cage's unhinged take on his character.

'Sympathy for the Devil' Taps Into Nicolas Cage's Gonzo Energy

Nicolas Cage remains a unique personality in the Hollywood game due to his ability to play grounded characters or embrace the madness and go full haywire . For each Pig in Cage's career, there's a Ghost Rider , and for each Leaving Las Vegas , there's a Renfield . However, while Cage shines the brightest when he has a layered character to play, there's no question his legion of fans adores when the star can bring his deranged energy on set . Fortunately, that's precisely the case with Sympathy for the Devil .

As the mysterious kidnapper, Cage is tasked with showing how dangerous the passenger is when he first steps into the scene. The star accepts the challenge, combining wide-eyed stares, twisted grins, and sharp one-liners to keep his prey on the edge. So, even when the story fails to deliver, there's always something fun to see in Sympathy for the Devil , thanks to Cage's magnetic presence. In the movie's best moments, he sheds the mask of the passenger to show the pain he carries inside. Similarly to Mandy , Cage seems to have been hired to make everything wilder, yet the lingering humanity in his performance makes the character matter more.

Kinnaman also deserves praise, perfectly embodying the distress of a man locked in a car with an unleashed Nicolas Cage. In any other movie, the dissonance between Cage's unstable role and the seriousness of Kinnaman's David would stick out as a sore thumb. In Sympathy for the Devil , the discrepancy between the two main characters creates the tension needed to keep the story afloat. It's fascinating to see Kinnaman personify the misery of a man trapped in a situation he can never understand as his captor constantly challenges reason. Meanwhile, Cage keeps spreading gleeful destruction. Sympathy for the Devil should be thankful for Cage and Kinnaman's brilliant dynamics as, without them, the movie would be nothing more than a bland thriller.

The Big Picture

• Sympathy for the Devil delivers powerful performances from Nicolas Cage and Joel Kinnaman, but its by-the-numbers storytelling holds it back.
• The film's core focus is the battle of wits between captor and prisoner, with both Cage and Kinnaman bringing their A-game to the tense cat-and-mouse game.
• While the movie falls short in terms of surprises and exploring deeper themes, Cage's unhinged performance adds an element of wildness that makes it worth watching.

Sympathy for the Devil comes to theaters on July 28.

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Sympathy for the Devil review: an entertaining, coked-up Collateral clone

“Nicolas Cage gives a mesmerizingly over-the-top performance in Sympathy for the Devil, an entertaining but ultimately forgettable thriller.”

• Nicolas Cage's unhinged central performance
• Joel Kinnaman's layered, straight-faced lead turn
• A few intense and engaging sequences throughout
• A predictable third-act twist
• A climactic action sequence that goes on too long
• A screenplay that fails to match its star's manic energy

A kooky, coked-up riff on Michael Mann’s Collateral , Sympathy for the Devil is exactly the movie that it wants to be. The best compliment one can pay is it is that there’s never any doubt at any point throughout the film’s thankfully lean 90-minute runtime that it knows exactly what it is. The Yuval Adler-directed, Nicolas Cage -led B-movie operates with such a clear sense of purpose that it’s easy to give into its steady rhythm, sit back, and go along for the ride.

Unfortunately, Sympathy for the Devil never goes anywhere particularly original or satisfying. It purposefully spins its wheels for its first hour, relying on the same predictable but engaging cycle of violence and frustration, only to eventually culminate in a final act that’s less surprising than it should be and more incoherent than it needs to be. The film is, consequently, little more than a predictable, drawn-out cinematic detour; one that’s loosely held together by Cage’s manic, swing-for-the-fences performance and Joel Kinnaman’s commendably straight-faced turn opposite him.

Written by Luke Paradise, Sympathy for the Devil begins in the outer limits of Las Vegas, a region it’ll go on to occupy for the majority of its runtime. There, viewers meet The Driver (Kinnaman), a seemingly straight-laced husband on the way to the hospital where his wife is in the midst of giving birth to their new baby. The Driver’s plans are disrupted, however, when he reaches the hospital only to find himself held up at gunpoint by The Passenger (Cage), a red-haired, alcoholic gunman intent on making his new hostage’s life as difficult as possible.

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From the second he shows up on-screen, Cage’s gun-wielding loose cannon is the ultimate Passenger From Hell. Not only is his latest, unnamed character the kind to wave a gun in another person’s face with wanton abandon, but he’s also just as quick to quote ominous Bible verses, purposefully piss off a police officer, and take over an entire roadside diner if it pleases him. Cage, likewise, doesn’t just lean into the character’s insanity, but he plays it all the way up — turning in a performance that is alternately irritating, hilarious, and disarming, but always uniquely terrifying.

For most of their journey together, it’s unclear exactly why Cage’s Passenger chose Kinnaman’s Driver as the target for all of his unbridled rage and psychological attacks. Paradise’s script includes a handful of early clues and hints, however, all of which suggest that there may be an actual history between Sympathy for the Devil ’s two leads. By the time the film has unveiled the full explanation for its central hostage situation, though, whatever mystery was there has already been long dispelled. Rather than delivering its ultimate reveal in one concise blast of information, the movie also makes the mistake of dragging out its various narrative twists far longer than it actually should.

While Sympathy for the Devil fails to make much of a narrative mark, it does a better job of entertaining you in the moment and drawing out tension from its core relationship. As unlikely as they may seem together, Kinnaman and Cage prove to be a formidable on-screen duo. The former brings palpable emotional desperation to his turn, allowing himself to emerge as a grounded counter to Cage, whose performance doesn’t so much verge on over-the-top as it does fully and completely embrace its own violently cartoonish grandiosity.

The film mines plenty of comedy and intensity out of Kinnaman and Cage’s scenes together, and nowhere does it do that more expertly than in the diner-set sequence that caps off its second act. The scene in question starts off on an uneasy note and gets progressively more intense and unusual from there, marking the moment when Sympathy for the Devil ’s dark sense of humor and violent edge combine most effectively. Everything that comes after isn’t as successful, but it’s a testament to how well-edited, performed, and staged the sequence is that it manages to remain as engaging as long as it does.

If all of this sounds like light praise for Sympathy for the Devil , that has more to do with how slight and inconsequential the film is than the quality of its best parts. The movie is little more than a quietly effective exercise in on-screen tension and violence, one that is hampered by the unfortunate fact that its various ideas, both stylistic and thematic, have already been explored more deeply and compellingly by other films and filmmakers. It’s an entertaining, low-commitment way to spend 90 minutes, but it inspires actual sympathy for its characters no more effectively than it does indifference.

Sympathy for the Devil hits theaters on Friday, July 28.

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Sympathy for the Devil Review: Nicolas Cage Is Completely Unhinged In This Highway-to-Hell Thriller

Nicolas Cage carjacks Joel Kinnaman in a wildly engaging yet overly frenetic film about finding redemption.

Nicolas Cage as a manic, sarcastic, carjacking lunatic with control issues? Sign us up. In director Yuval Adler’s ( The Secrets We Keep, Bethlehem) dark comedy thriller, Sympathy for the Devil , Nicolas Cage is totally unleashed. Fun to watch? Yes. Does it wear thin? Yes. Will you care? Ultimately, by the end, maybe not.

Cage doesn’t cover new creative ground here (see Vampire's Kiss, Raising Arizona, or Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans for peak manic Cage). He seems pumped up from the critical raves he received in 2022’s The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent yet undeterred by the WTF-ness of it all that was Renfield. The Nic Cage we get in Sympathy for the Devil is a cross between those two “performances.” Regardless, the man drives this tale, which was penned by screenwriter Luke Paradise.

The plot finds Joel Kinnaman ( The Killing, Suicide Squad, For All Mankind ), playing against type as David, a by-the-book married man on his way to a Las Vegas hospital where his wife is in labor. That doesn’t go as planned. A spiky red-haired, red blazer-wearing brooding fella (Cage) suddenly carjacks him and begins barking out orders to drive out of state. So begins this wild road trip filled with plenty of Cage histrionics.

Just Shut Up and Drive

Early on, poor David tells his mysterious passenger to please consider sparing him from whatever dangers lie ahead. “I have a family emergency,” David insists. To which his passenger, angry eyes widening, points a gun and barks: “ I’m your family emergency now.” Onward they go, with David continually asking the intruder why he’s doing what he’s doing. “Sometimes, the worst is exactly what you should assume,” the stranger tells David at one point, then reveals he wants to see his mother, who apparently is dying in a hospital in a nearby state. David knows better. His unwelcome passenger is unhinged .

As the film goes on, it becomes clear that the mystery man is out for revenge, and that he is directing it all toward David. But why? They’ve never met. His carjacker isn’t so sure, insisting that David tell him the “truth.” It’s befuddling and unnerving to David, who’s fretting about his wife in the hospital. He’s forever plotting an escape but as the minutes pass by with the angst-ridden guy in the backseat, David seems stuck. Until the police show up.

Related: Exclusive: Sympathy for the Devil Cinematographer Steve Holleran Puts Nic Cage in Sin City

The script takes a severe pivot at this point. David’s scheme to speed up after spotting a squad car has dire consequences. At this point, the mystery man is in the passenger seat of the car and if there ever was a master class on how to act like a slippery, narcissistic, revenge-seeking, foaming-at-the-mouth, conman with more than a hint of borderline personality disorder — to extrapolate a bit — then this scene is one of many where Cage becomes teacher extraordinaire. You can’t take your eyes off him, in fact. Nor would you want to. It’s a tour du force performance for the books. But relying on just Cage’s frenetic performance shouldn’t be the ultimate end game.

A Wild Nicolas Cage Flick

Look, Nicolas Cage commands the screen in almost everything he appears in. But Sympathy for the Devil 's script tends to rely too much on Cage’s hysterics. Director Yuval Adler must have been thrilled to work alongside Cage, who fully immerses himself in the role. And while the director does an exceptional job at keeping things as grounded as he can, ultimately the film feels like an outlet for Cage to let loose, go full stream-of-consciousness, and chew up the scenery.

Related: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent Review: Nicolas Cage Makes a Movie

Luke Paradise’s script is broken into three parts, with the final part unfolding in a diner. The drama and danger increase in each section of the movie. The diner scene, in fact, looks eerily familiar to another upcoming film called, ironically, The Passenger. That film stars Kyle Gallner as a troubled soul dragging others along for the ride. If only there was a way to blend these two films together, because Sympathy for the Devil needs a tad more grounding, and The Passenger needs some creative spice. Both films are pretty good. Watching them, you realize they both could have been better.

That said, we’re not being offered a big-budget film from one of the major studios in Sympathy for the Devil. There’s enough here to keep you interested and engaged. Nic Cage? Sure. But there’s also something captivating about Joel Kinnaman’s performance in the movie and the underlying mystery waiting to be solved. The last 20 minutes may truly surprise you. The big twist , which creeps up on you, may provoke a welcome eyebrow raise or just a shrug. Either way, if you’re craving a wild Cage movie that takes place in the dark of night and ultimately becomes about two men confronting the past, then buckle up and enjoy. This one knows how to step on the gas.

Sympathy for the Devil, from RLJE Films, hits theaters July 28.

Flickering Myth

Geek Culture | Movies, TV, Comic Books & Video Games

Movie Review – Sympathy for the Devil (2023)

September 9, 2023 by Robert Kojder

Sympathy for the Devil , 2023.

Directed by Yuval Adler. Starring Nicolas Cage, Joel Kinnaman, Kaiwi Lyman, Burns Burns, Cameron Lee Price, Rich Hopkins, Alexis Zollicoffer, Oliver McCallum, and Nancy Goode.

After being forced to drive a mysterious passenger at gunpoint, a man finds himself in a high-stakes game of cat and mouse where it becomes clear that not everything is as it seems.

This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, Sympathy for the Devil wouldn’t exist.

In Sympathy for the Devil , Nicolas Cage playing up his typical low-budget limited theatrical release/straight-to-VOD eccentricities is the wrong choice for the material. The all-time great (who seems to do one terrific movie a year mixed in with several flaming bags of crap) is decked out in a red suit with matching dyed hair. Loaded with an obnoxious Brooklyn accent (that comes and goes as Nicolas Cage shouts and showboats his way through the performance), this mysterious character surprises Joel Kinnaman’s The Driver by getting into his backseat and pulling out a gun as he pulls into a hospital parking garage with noticeably minimal urgency consider his wife, who has suffered childbirth complications in the past despite the two already having one young boy, is in labor.

Dubbed The Passenger, the stranger forces The Driver to exit the hospital and drive casually, with no real information regarding his intentions. He is convinced that whatever clichéd family sob story The Driver attempts to give will be phony, and given the specificity of the character’s behavior during the introduction, there is reason to suspect that something fishy is up. Director Yuval Adler and screenwriter Luke Paradise are doing the classic “address the clichés to appear subversive” bit to little effect. Still, there is some intrigue about what this man wants with a sketchy but otherwise decent work-obsessive family man arriving at the hospital to be with his wife during childbirth.

The filmmakers proceed to practically go nowhere with this, spending nearly 30 minutes inside the car talking in circles, before the story settles into an extended sequence at a roadhouse diner. Since the answers here are disappointingly generic and easy to catch on to, Nicolas Cage, who I admire for wanting to put a memorable spin on this character, is tasked with serving as a distraction by going big and loud as a psychopath terrorizing The Driver and everyone else in the diner. There is certainly material here that would slide right into those Nicolas Cage mental breakdown montages, but it also feels uninspired, routine, and embarrassing. It’s no longer surprising or effective. It also doesn’t fit the dramatic heft the narrative is aiming for.

If this film contained a more subdued Nicolas Cage performance without the cringe red-aesthetics and devil angle (I sincerely hope the filmmakers don’t actually think the title is clever), there might have been something worth recommending here since there are numerous small details in the opening about The Driver that mildly pay off across the running time. It would still be tropey and familiar, but a slightly more serious turn from Nicolas Cage, or simply not doing whatever the hell he is doing here would have benefited the story.

Then again, the story is so basic it also reaches a point where Nicolas Cage is freaking out and gunning down diner patrons as an excuse for an admittedly successful attempt at suspense. That’s also a shame because Sympathy for the Devil is well-shot, with solid work from Joel Kinnaman as a character equally suspicious as the man threatening him at gunpoint. The filmmakers never find a reason for us to care about either of these two as it lumbers toward an absurd finale that’s plain dumb. You see the card trick coming, and it certainly could have worked regardless, but the material is far too lousy and laughable to make any of it work.

Flickering Myth Rating  – Film: ★ ★  / Movie: ★ ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check  here  for new reviews, follow my  Twitter  or  Letterboxd , or email me at [email protected]

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Sympathy for the Devil

Joel Kinnaman and Nicolas Cage star in Yuval Adler’s film, Sympathy for the Devil. A suspenseful, mumblecore noir-thriller that relies heavily on the film's stars sparring with dialogue and uncovering some disheartening truths about their seemingly random encounter in the middle of the night in Las Vegas.

A short and sweet thriller set on the outskirts of the strip in Las Vegas, Sympathy for the Devil opens with a scenario that would put any domesticated father on edge. Joel Kinnaman’s nameless driver character is searching for parking at the hospital while his wife is inside in labor. Another nameless man (Cage), who hops in his back seat while the car is stopped, holds him at gunpoint and tells him to drive. From there, we go deep into the desert night with these two. Spending the first third of the film in the car with the passenger and interrogating the driver. We then spend a solid twenty minutes at a diner with the two of them going down a wormhole of their pasts that could uncover why their paths have crossed.

Joel Kinnaman plays a dialed-back character quite well. His energy matches really well with Cage's, giving us shades of his roles in Vampires Kiss, Deadfall, and parts of Face-Off. He is unhinged as he physically and psychologically breaks down his hostage. Delivering his best Edward G. Robinson imitation and murdering anyone but his hostage just to prove a point about how dangerous he is. If you wanted an off-the-wall Cage performance, Sympathy for the Devil is right up your alley. The two actors build the payoff to their climactic altercation quite well. The film moves like a play, with a reveal of what’s truly going on with these two that is bound to spark discussion after the credits roll.

From a technical standpoint, Sympathy for the Devil captures the atmosphere of the story quite well in its visuals. Loaded with a diverse color palette that suits the title of the film. A lot of red appears in the film. From the diner, the two sit in, plus Cage's wardrobe gives us shades of the devil or a low-end magician who never made it in Vegas.

Sympathy for the Devil is an entertaining watch, but nothing we haven’t seen before. Cage is uncontained in all of his scenes, and maybe he should have dialed it back in some. Regardless, there's a great tone to the film that draws you in and then burns you the further it goes. With a film set in Sin City, you feel soaked in a bit of sin after watching it.

Interview with Sympathy for the Devil Director Yuval Adler 

Watch Sympathy for the Devil 

The Ending Of Sympathy For The Devil Explained

Contains spoilers for "Sympathy for the Devil" 

In director Yuval Adler's film, " Sympathy for the Devil ," the title asks you to have compassion for someone we don't normally extend compassion to. But who is the Devil and why should we have sympathy for him? This is just one of the questions embedded in the new movie starring Nicolas Cage as the Passenger and Joel Kinnaman as the driver he picks up at gunpoint. But there's much more to their stories than would appear at first glance.

In fact, while Kinnaman's David Chamberlain may look like a mild-mannered grade-school teacher, in reality, there's a lot going on beneath the surface. His wife is currently in labor with their third baby, and they're hoping that this one will live like their middle child, not die like their first. Also, David may be very different than his conservative exterior suggests ... and it's only a matter of time before his alter-ego comes out. Meanwhile, Cage's Passenger looks like a sideshow character, with his Kool-Aid-red hair, devil-like goatee, and shiny scarlet blazer — but he knows a whole lot more about David than he's letting on, and he's going after him for a very specific reason.

Together, the pair take a stunning trip across Las Vegas, but with many revelations coming fast and furious throughout the film, there are some that may have been missed. Here is the ending of "Sympathy for the Devil" explained.

What to remember about the plot of Sympathy for the Devil

"Sympathy for the Devil" begins with David talking to his second-born son, his first child to live, as he drives to the boy's grandmother's house. David drops his son off and heads to the hospital where his wife is currently in labor with their third baby. But when he pulls into the hospital, the Passenger gets in his car. David tells him he's not an Uber, but the Passenger brandishes a gun and tells him to drive. The Passenger tells David that he knows who he really is, but David claims he doesn't know what the Passenger is talking about. Meanwhile, the Passenger says David's driving him to deliver last rites to his mom in a hospital and then that he's meeting a guy at a private airfield in Boulder, Colorado. Neither is true.

To prove how unhinged he is, the Passenger goads a cop who pulls them over and then kills him in cold blood. David refuses to drive after this incident but quickly realizes he doesn't have much of a choice if he wants to stay alive. It isn't until David and the Passenger are sitting in a diner and the Passenger terrorizes a mother with a little girl that David finally admits that he really is the individual the Passenger is looking for. David's real name is James Levine and 15 years ago he was an infamous hitman for the mob in Boston.

The Passenger's revelation

While David has admitted who he really is, the Passenger has yet to do so. Instead, he goes about killing just about everyone in the sparsely populated diner. While the mother and daughter escape, the truck driver and chef die by the Passenger's hand. Interestingly, though, he lets the waitress live. All of this gives David just enough time to escape from the handcuffs that the Passenger had chained him to their booth with.

David runs into the parking lot, and the Passenger, knowing David is hiding somewhere nearby, tells his story. He was an accountant for the mob who worked for a man named Jacob Sullivan. At one point he started doing the books for one of Sullivan's associates, who was taking some of the money for himself. When Sullivan found out, he had the accountant invite the associate to his house. The accountant sent his wife and daughter away during this interlude, but the wife came back home just as Sullivan's hitmen shot the associate.

The accountant's wife was traumatized by what she saw. She started taking pills and drinking, and eventually told whoever would listen about the murder — so James Levine called the accountant and told him his wife had become a problem. At that point, the accountant (our Passenger) decided to run with his wife and daughter but stopped to get supplies first. By the time he got back, his wife and daughter were dead and his house was on fire.

What happened at the end of Sympathy for the Devil?

After the Passenger tells his story, David comes out of hiding, and given the isolated nature of the diner and the Passenger's gun, decides to continue to drive them both. During the drive, he tells the Passenger that when he entered his house 15 years ago and his wife saw his gun, she attacked him. He shot her three times to get her off him, but in the process, he accidentally shot the Passenger's daughter. He felt awful about this, and quit the Boston mob that night, but believed he paid his dues when his own daughter died. The Passenger, however, still wants revenge.

So, as a group of police cars are following them, David wrecks the car. He is now fully James Levine, as he shoots the first police officers who make it to him with the Passenger's gun. Then after a short exchange, he proceeds to choke the Passenger, who's been badly hurt in the crash, until he's dead. More police sirens sound as James puts the gun in the Passenger's lifeless hand. James sinks down to the ground, telling himself, "I'm David." By the time the cops reach him, he IS David again.

What David and the Passenger's final battle means

For most of "Sympathy for the Devil," David looks like he's outmatched and outgunned. After all, the Passenger may be a bit wacky, but he is willing to use that gun with deadly intent. In the end, though, David reverts back to James, the mob hitman, and takes out the Passenger — as well as the cops who could tell others that he isn't who he says he is. David may look like a mild family man now but he still has James buried inside, and when he comes out everyone around him should watch out because James gets what he wants.

The final battle shows that David-slash-James is not to be messed with, by the Passenger or anyone else. While he doesn't use it most of the time, David still has that killer instinct buried inside him, and he can take out the best of them, no matter who they are or what their past is.

So in the end, David, not the Passenger, is victorious in their battle. He takes out the Passenger with extreme prejudice and seemingly very little remorse. A surprise outcome for the audience and perhaps for the Passenger, but not for David.

Does David get away with it?

Though we don't see what happens after the police come at the end of the film, all signs point to David not only getting away with it, but him looking like the everyman hero for surviving. He may have killed the Passenger, and worse, police officers, but he's set things up so he doesn't look guilty. He used the Passenger's gun to kill those police officers and placed the gun back in the Passenger's hand so it looks like he killed them. And he can chalk the Passenger's death up to wounds he sustained from the car crash.

Besides, even if there are some irregularities with the Passenger's wounds, who would blame David if he did kill him? From everything other people can discern, including the waitress at the diner, David was the victim of the Passenger's sick game. If he eventually fought back, either by crashing the car or with brute strength afterward, he'd be cheered for standing up for himself. So although David let James out, he did so at a strategic moment when he was sure he could get away with what he was planning, and all signs point to his being right about that.

Why the Passenger waits so long to take his revenge

The Passenger's reasons for wanting to kill David, once we learn them, are understandable. After all, David-slash-James killed the Passenger's wife and daughter 15 years ago and got away scot-free. What doesn't make sense is why it took the Passenger so long to seek James out. One possibility is that it simply took the Passenger that long to find him. All indications point to James leaving Boston without a trace the night he killed the Passenger's loved ones. Since he moved to Las Vegas and changed his name, it could have taken the Passenger a while to find and identify him.

Another possibility is that the Passenger wanted James to be happily married with kids so he could have an idea of what it would be like to lose them. After all, James didn't have any attachments when he murdered the Passenger's family, but as David, he has his wife, child, and new baby to lose. 

Then there's the possibility that the Passenger's cancer triggered the whole escapade. Towards the end of the film, David guesses correctly that the Passenger has lung cancer that he won't recover from. Perhaps the Passenger, knowing how brutal David-slash-James can be, waited until he had nothing to lose, including his life, to try to take his revenge , knowing that if he didn't succeed he wouldn't die much earlier than he would have otherwise.

Why the Passenger doesn't kill David right away

The Passenger has numerous opportunities to kill David during their car ride, but he doesn't take them because he wants to explain why he's doing what he's doing. Of course, it takes a long time for the Passenger to reveal the truth and he tells several lies in between, so why not just tell the truth right away and get on with it? It appears the Passenger also wants David to admit that he's James Levine. Only then will the Passenger reveal the whole story of his past.

In addition to the raw details of the story of the accountant, aka the Passenger, and his wife and child, he reveals that the rabbits his daughter raised were screaming as his house in Boston burned, a detail no one could accuse him of making up. It seems that at this moment, the Passenger just wants to unload on David — more, perhaps, than he wants to kill him. If he wanted to simply kill David, he would have right after he admitted who he was and the Passenger revealed his story. Instead, he has David get back in the car and continue driving so the Passenger can share more details. It's his fatal flaw, and it lets James take control of the situation.

Does David's wife know the truth?

David's wife Maggie isn't seen during the film, but she's heard at several points as a disembodied voice on the phone. She calls when David doesn't come to her room in the hospital, and a few more times to see what's going on. She never seems worried, though, even when David is somewhat late and, later, very, very late. This could be because she's focused on having a baby and has taken medication to make the process easier. After all, her first pregnancy resulted in the baby dying, so she's preoccupied with making sure everything goes well at the hospital.

It could be something more, though. After all, most women who are abandoned by their husbands at the hospital while they're having a baby aren't going to be too happy. Maggie, on the other hand, seems a little nervous, but otherwise fine, especially after she hears the Passenger's voice on the other end of the line. While we don't hear their conversation, we can assume the Passenger spells out the situation that her husband is in, and yet she isn't worried about him the way one would expect. Instead, she seems to take for granted that he's fine, as one would if they knew their husband used to be ... a hitman for the mob. Perhaps Maggie knows more than she lets on about her husband's past.

What the director and critics have said about the ending

While there are no comments from the stars of "Sympathy for the Devil" because of the strikes, in a brief interview, the director Yuval Adler said of Kinnaman's performance at the end of the film, "You have the change that he needs to have as a character, which is remarkable because it sells you one thing and then flips it on you, so I like that aspect." If only the critics agreed with him. The critics who liked the film did so because of Cage's bravado performance. Those who didn't saw it as more of the same from the star: over-the-top showboating. One thing almost everyone agreed on, however, was that the production didn't quite pull off the ending.

For example, The A.V. Club's Luke Y. Thompson enjoyed the movie, particularly Cage's performance, except for the ending, which he said: "involve[s] some complicated backstory that's hard to focus on or clarify." The Hollywood Reporter's Jordan Mintzer, who similarly gave the movie a decent review, claimed the final twist is "not totally convincing," but still enjoyed Cage's antics.

Meanwhile, the Observer's Casey Epstein-Gross, who didn't care for the film, said, "The entertaining surrealism that energized the opening movements fizzles out as the film reaches the third act, the reveals of which are both mundane and expected." Ultimately, however you feel about the film, most people aren't wild about the third act, particularly not the part where the Passenger reveals his true backstory.

Who's the Devil and who should we have sympathy for?

For most of the film, we're led to believe that the Passenger is the Devil. The trouble is we don't feel all that much sympathy for him, so it's hard not to wonder what exactly the title is talking about. Then, when the third act rolls around and we hear his backstory, we start to feel at least some compassion for him. This seems to be our answer, but to some degree, once we get to know who he is, "Devil" could describe Kinnaman's David, too.

We feel sympathy for David from the beginning of the story, and even when his true identity is revealed, we can't help but continue to feel bad for him. After all, he has a baby on the way, and even if he used to be a killer for the mob, he isn't anymore. While the Passenger, as played by Cage, gets all the attention and the love or the hate that comes with it, his performance is so extreme that it's more challenging to care about his traumatic past.

David, on the other hand, gets our sympathy from the beginning, so even when he kills police officers at the end of the movie, the compassion for his character doesn't completely abate. It's an irony of the title that there are two potential devils in the mix and only one gets most of our sympathy.

Review of Sympathy for the Devil

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• Monday, April 8, 2024

Sympathy For The Devil – Movie Review

Cage is totally off the leash in sympathy for the devil..

The film “Sympathy for the Devil” features a dynamic collaboration between two talented actors, Nicolas Cage and Joel Kinnaman. Cage has a reputation for having versatile acting skills. He has delivered unforgettable performances across various genres throughout his illustrious career. In recent years, he has made a major comeback with movies like “Renfield” and “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.” His on-screen presence always leaves a lasting impact. Kinnaman, best known for his role as Rick Flagg in the Suicide Squad films, is equally talented. He easily brings captivating energy to every film that he is in. The movie is by director Yuval Adler and writer Luke Paradise and will be in theaters on July 28th, 2023.

After being forced to drive a mysterious passenger at gunpoint, a man finds himself in a high-stakes game of cat and mouse where it becomes clear that not everything is as it seems.

The movie “Sympathy for the Devil” directed by Yuval Adler is a thrilling and emotionally charged journey. Adler skillfully weaves the complex themes of humanity, morality, and redemption. It leaves the audience pondering the blurred lines between good and evil. The film successfully delves into the depths of the human psyche, making it a fascinating cinematic experience.

Joel Kinnaman’s performance in the movie is impressive. He effortlessly embodies his character and pulls the audience into the story’s heart. Nicolas Cage, on the other hand, steals the show with his wildly entertaining performance. His presence adds an undeniable allure to the film, reminding us why he is always worth watching on the big screen.

Although “Sympathy for the Devil” is a decent thriller, it falls somewhat short of perfection. While the intense narrative and stellar performances keep the audience engaged, there are moments where the plot feels predictable. Some character arcs could have been further explored but that is all part of the allure. Nevertheless, the film’s strengths lie in its powerful themes and the chemistry between Cage and Kinnaman, making it a compelling watch for fans of psychological thrillers and those who appreciate the talents of these two exceptional actors.

I give Sympathy for the Devil 3.5 out of 5 stars. It is a film that showcases the legendary Nicolas Cage, who has been delivering over-the-top performances throughout his entire career. Fans of Cage will be highly satisfied. Read more  Reviews  on Nerdtropolis and Subscribe to our  YouTube.

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Sean Tajipour is the Founder and Editor of Nerdtropolis and the host of the Moviegoers Society and Reel Insights Podcast. He is also a member of the Critics Choice Association. You can follow on Twitter and Instagram @Seantaj.

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‘Bad Faith: Christian Nationalism’s Unholy War on Democracy’ Review: A Scary Look at the Potential Soldiers of a Second Trump Reign

The followers of Christian Nationalism want a theocracy. Stephen Ujlaki and Chris Jones's chilling film suggests that another Trump presidency could help them get it.

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

Chief Film Critic

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In 2017, Trump, once he took the reins of power, was constrained — by the other branches of government, and by the rule of law. He didn’t become the explicitly, committedly anti-democratic figure he is now until the 2020 election, when his declaration that he was actually the winner, and that Joe Biden had stolen the election, became the new cornerstone of his ideology. In the intervening period, Trump has been setting himself up to rule the United States as an authoritarian leader, and that meshes perfectly with the goals of Christian Nationalism, a movement that’s built around the dream of transforming America into a theocracy: a Christian nation ruled by a higher power than the Constitution — that is, by the will of God, as interpreted by his white Christian followers.

The alliance between Trump and Christian Nationalism is a profound one. Progressives tend to be focused, to the point of obsession, on the hypocrisy of the alliance — the idea that men and women who are supposedly devoted to the teachings of Jesus Christ could rally behind a sinner and law-breaker like Trump, who seems the incarnation of everything they should be against. The documentary fills in their longstanding justification: that Trump is seen as a modern-day version of King Cyrus, a pagan who God used as a tool to help the people. According to this mode of opportunistic logic, Trump doesn’t need to be a pious Christian; his very recklessness makes him part of a grander design. The Christian Nationalists view Trump much as his disgruntled base of working-class nihilist supporters have always viewed him — as a kind of holy wrecking ball.    

But, of course, that’s just the rationalization. “Bad Faith” captures the intricacy with which Trump, like certain Republicans before him, has struck a deal with the Christian Right that benefits both parties. In exchange for their support in 2016, he agreed to back a slate of judicial appointees to their liking, and to come over to their side on abortion. Trump’s victory in 2016, like Reagan’s in 1980, was sealed by the support of the Christian Right. But what he’s promising them this time is the very destruction of the American system that they have long sought.   

The most chilling aspect of “Bad Faith” is that, in tracing the roots of the Christian Right, the movie colors in how the dream of theocracy has been the movement’s underlying motivation from almost the start. In 1980, when the so-called Moral Majority came into existence, its leader, Jerry Falwell, got all the attention. (A corrupt quirk of the movement is that as televangelists like Falwell, Pat Robertson, and, later on, Joel Osteen became rich and famous, their wealth was presented as evidence that God had chosen them to lead.) But Falwell, despite the headlines he grabbed, wasn’t the visionary organizer of the Moral Majority.

That was Paul Weyrich, the owlish conservative religious activist who founded the hugely influential Council for National Policy, which spearheaded the structural fusion of Christianity and right-wing politics. He’s the one who went to Falwell and Robertson and collated their lists of supporters into a Christian political machine that could become larger than the sum of its parts. The machine encompassed a network of 72,000 preachers, it employed sophisticated methods of micro-targeting, and its impetus was to transform Evangelical Christianity into a movement that was fundamentally political. The G.O.P. became “God’s own party,” and the election of Reagan was the Evangelicals’ first victory. We see a clip of Reagan saying how he plans to “make America great again,” which is the tip of the iceberg of how much the Trump playbook got from him.

Randall Balmer, the Ivy League historian of American religion who wrote the book “Bad Faith,” is interviewed in the documentary, and he makes a fascinating point: that there’s a mythology that the Christian Right was first galvanized, in 1973, by Roe v. Wade — but that, in fact, that’s not true. Jerry Falwell didn’t deliver his first anti-abortion sermon until 1978. According to Balmer, the moment that galvanized the Christian Right was the 1971 lower-court ruling on school desegregation that held that any institution that engages in racial discrimination or segregation is not, by definition, a charitable institution, and therefore has no claim to tax-exempt status.

This had an incendiary effect. Churches like Jerry Falwell’s were not integrated and didn’t want to be; yet they also wanted their tax-exempt status. It was this law that touched off the anti-government underpinnings of the Christian Right, much as the sieges of Ruby Ridge and Waco became the seeds of the alt-right. And it sealed the notion that Christian Nationalism and White Nationalism were joined at the hip, a union that went back to the historical fusion of the two in the Ku Klux Klan’s brand of Christian terrorism.

“Bad Faith” makes a powerful case that Christian Nationalism is built on a lie: the shibboleth that America was originally established as a “Christian nation.” It’s true to say that the Founders drew on the moral traditions of Judeo-Christian culture. Yet the freedom of religion in the First Amendment was put there precisely as a guard against religious tyranny. It was, at the time, a radical idea: that the people would determine how — and what God — they wanted to worship. In truth, Christian Nationalism undermines not only the freedoms enshrined by the Constitution but the very concept of free will that’s at the heart of Christian theology. You can’t choose to be a follower of Christ if that belief is imposed on you.

Reviewed online, April 2, 2024. Running time: 88 MIN.

• Production: A Heretical Reason Productions, Panarea production. Producers: Stephen Ujlaki, Chris Jones. Executive producers: Peter D. Graves, John Ptak, Mike Steed, Todd Stiefel.
• Crew: Directors: Stephen Ujlaki, Chris Jones. Screenplay: Stephen Ujlaki, Chris Jones, Alec Baer. Camera: Bill Yates, Pilar Timpane, Trevor May. Editor: Alec Baer, Chris Jones. Music: Lili Haydn, Jeremy Grody.
• With: Peter Coyote, Elizabeth Neumann, Randall Balmer, Ken Peters, Eboo Patel, Katherine Stewart, Samuel Perry, Russell Moore, Rev. William Barber II, Linda Gordon, Jim Wallis, Lisa Sharon Harper, Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove, Anne Nelson, Brent Allpress, John Marty.

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