It's a maniacal performance, complete with mad gales of laughter and insane bouts of temper. Cage doesn't go over the top, but he teeters darn close.

Cage plays massive substance abuser Lt. Terence McDonagh, a cop as seemingly devoted to locking up bad guys as he is dependent on his stash of drugs, which often are pilfered from the evidence room or out of the purses and pockets of New Orleans clubgoers. Though he may procure them in nasty ways, he does share his windfalls with Frankie, his hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold girlfriend (Eva Mendes).

Director Werner Herzog has fashioned a moody cop drama that is more compelling for its visual flourishes. Terence has intriguing hallucinations of iguanas and break-dancing, gun-toting thugs. New Orleans just after Hurricane Katrina provides the ideal backdrop for this tale of a corrupt law-enforcement officer.

Cage plays this high-functioning drug addict and compulsive gambler with a fascinating blend of desolation and jangly ferocity. He runs roughshod over a downtrodden New Orleans, flashing his badge occasionally for good, but mostly for evil. His pangs of conscience are usually smothered by his compulsions.

Despite his strangely receding hairline, bug-eyed demeanor and hunchback stance, Cage somehow avoids making this police lieutenant a caricature.

A film of the same name was made in 1992 by director Abel Ferrera, starring Harvey Keitel, but the plots differ. This one isn't a thoroughgoing success, but it has indelible scenes, such as one in which Cage bullies an elderly hairdresser (Irma P. Hall) into giving up the whereabouts of her grandson, a witness to murder.

No one does twisted mania quite like Cage. And after a few turns in the National Treasure bore-fests, it's a pleasure to see him in the kind of role his fearless acting style seems meant for.

Enlarge By Lena Herzog, First Look Studios Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes star in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.