Nicolas Cage isn’t one to ride positive momentum; it’s almost as if he willingly hurls himself in unusual directions when you least expect him to. After being hailed for his performance in the 2021 thriller Pig, for which many felt that he was snubbed by The Academy, Cage didn’t exactly capitalize on the recognition. Yes, he was considered for major studio projects again, but he also kept churning out B-movies that barely saw the light of day. Just last year, Cage appeared in a Western that holds a shockingly low 5% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. You might not have seen the movie, but it’s currently available on Netflix. However, you’ll want to satisfy your curiosity soon, because it’s scheduled to be removed from the platform in a few weeks.
Directed by Brian Skiba, the movie also featured Stephen Dorff and Heather Graham. It followed an outlaw whose past catches up with him while he’s hiding out in the middle of nowhere; Dorff played the lead role, while Cage appeared only in an extended cameo. This isn’t the only underseen Western that he has been part of in the last half-decade. In 2023, he starred in the direct-to-video film The Old Way, which holds a 32% score on Rotten Tomatoes; the year before that, he starred in Butcher’s Crossing, which holds a 74% score on Rotten Tomatoes; and the year before that, in 2021, he starred in Sion Sono‘s horror Western Prisoners of the Ghostland, which has a 61% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
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What Did Critics Think of Nic Cage’s Bonkers Western?
But the movie we’re talking about is Gunslingers. Widely panned, it was described by one critic as “a film so cobbled together it seems like it was churned out under duress.” Another critic wrote, “Only Cage’s most diehard cultists will want to go to bat for this performance.” In addition to its 5% critics’ score on the aggregator, the movie holds an 18% audience score. One viewer wrote, “Gunslingers fails on every level,” and another commented, “This is the worst movie I have seen in 20 years.” Fortunately, Cage has also appeared in a handful of mainstream releases in the last few years; movies such as Renfield and Longlegs. He’ll next star in David O. Russell‘s John Madden biopic alongside Christian Bale. Gunslingers will leave Netflix on May 1. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
- Release Date
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April 11, 2025
- Director
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Brian Skiba
- Producers
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Randall Batinkoff, Jamie R. Thompson