A SCORE TO SETTLE is a truly lamentable effort from Nicolas Cage, who now seems to be going after Andy Lau for the title of world's most prolific actor. The difference is that when Lau was making 6/7 films a year in late '80s Hong Kong, they were all good films, whereas Cage's B-movies are generally rushed and amateurish. This film's a case in point.

Cage plays an old lag, looking tired and bloated after a long prison sentence. He comes out to bond with his druggie kid, and argues with some old gang members and former colleagues. Occasionally he has sex with a prostitute and gets into a fight with a pimp, but that's about all the drama you'll get. The direction is poor indeed, the performances ho-hum, the major twist at the climax shamelessly borrowed from the excellent DEAD MAN'S SHOES. Go watch that instead.

A Score to Settle is a low budget revenge action thriller with not much action or thrills.

Nicolas Cage plays Frank Carver, released from prison as he suffers a rare form of insomnia causing him to have hallucinations.

Carver spent 19 years in prison for taking the rap for his mob boss Max who killed someone. He got a large payout for going to jail and the promise that his son Joey would be looked after.

Trouble is Joey became a junkie while Carver was in jail. Now although sick and tired due to his condition, he wants revenge against Max and some of his enforcers.

This is a muddled film with poor pacing. Not much happens in the first half as Carver gets reacquainted with his son, has sex with a prostitute and looks for revenge.

When the action does arrive it is lukewarm. There is a twist in the tale which explains why Carver is angry at the people he believed did not keep their part of the bargain. However this is a shoddy film from an actor whose best days have been behind him for some years.

Right, well I had very little expectations to this 2019 movie from writer John Stuart Newman and director Shawn Ku. Why? Well, it is a Nicholas Cage movie, need I say more? I can't claim to be a fan of his in any way. Sure, he puts on the occasional good movie, but they are few and far apart.

Regardless, I had the chance to watch "A Score to Settle", so I sat down to watch it, as I tend to watch movies that I haven't already seen before.

And glad that I did, because this movie was definitely one of Nicholas Cage's better performances, and a movie where you actually get to see him having acting talents. And while the movie itself was sort of mediocre, Cage actually managed to lift it up and out of mediocrity with his impressive performance.

The storyline in "A Score to Settle" definitely had potential. Sure, it didn't offer much of anything new to the genre, but it was still enjoyable enough for what it turned out to be.

Aside from Nicholas Cage, the movie has some nice performances by the likes of Benjamin Bratt, Noah Le Gros and Karolina Wydra. I can't claim to be familiar with neither Noah Le Gros or Karolina Wydra, but they definitely performed well in this movie.

"A Score to Settle" is an adequate movie if you have nothing more pressing on your to-watch-list. While it wasn't outstanding, it was still good enough for a single viewing.

My rating of "A Score to Settle" would have been a very mediocre five out of ten, given the flatlining storyline, but Nicolas Cage's performance lifted the movie up a notch, who knew!?