Sympathy for the Devil is a very apparent knock off of Collateral that would be completely fine in totally forgettable fashion if it wasn't for producer and star Nicolas Cage. He single handedly takes the film to much higher levels of entertainment and is essentially the only reason to watch it.
Joel Kinnaman has to have the boring character to balance out all the Cage craze but late stage reveals still give him something to work with. Nicolas Cage completely taps into his manic sensibilities here, he's not even restrained in the slightest with emotional beats delivered with the same deranged energy as everything else.
Yuval Adler's direction has some nice stylistic flourishes, using the red and blue of police sirens to light scenes in pretty striking fashion. However, his greatest strength is knowing never to reign his leading man in, especially during a sequence in a diner where it feels like the film is having to catch up to Cage's unpredictable performance.
Joel Kinnaman has to have the boring character to balance out all the Cage craze but late stage reveals still give him something to work with. Nicolas Cage completely taps into his manic sensibilities here, he's not even restrained in the slightest with emotional beats delivered with the same deranged energy as everything else.
Yuval Adler's direction has some nice stylistic flourishes, using the red and blue of police sirens to light scenes in pretty striking fashion. However, his greatest strength is knowing never to reign his leading man in, especially during a sequence in a diner where it feels like the film is having to catch up to Cage's unpredictable performance.