Renfield

The Nicolas Cage renaissance has been marvellous. The famed actor's return to the true big time has been a long time coming, and his latest flick is yet another reason why we all need more Nic Cage in our lives.

Renfield, a vampiric comedy film that kicks off with almost buddy dynamics and quickly spirals into a full blown study on narcissism and codependency, sees Cage portraying arguably the most iconic horror character of all-time, Count Dracula, and explores how the vampire exists in modern society thanks to the help of his often less than willing servant, Nicholas Hoult's Robert Montague Renfield. The whole narrative of this movie revolves around Renfield looking to distance himself from his master's cruel and bloodthirsty ways, but ultimately finds this far more difficult than expected, as Dracula doesn't take kindly to disobedient familiars. In the end, the story manages to weave in an entire New Orleans crime family and then connect that to a young police officer who is determined to take that family down, and this is how Renfield, Dracula, Awkwafina's Rebecca Quincy, and the Lobo family all connect, and yes, as you might expect, Renfield struggles to make a truly compelling narrative in its just over 90 minutes duration because of all of these interconnecting parts.

But just because the story has its clear kinks doesn't mean that Renfield is a disaster. The dialogue has hilarious moments and the way the narrative is told presents plenty of opportunities for the cast to capitalise on comedic timing. The action and fight scenes that are baked in are also so over the top and ridiculous that it's hard to not be truly encapsulated by them (seeing Renfield impale a man to a wall with another man's dismembered arm will remain with me for the foreseeable future). But the true star of this movie is the moments where Renfield and Dracula are the sole focuses. Hoult and Cage are brilliant in these roles and really bounce off one another to make for hilarious, captivating, and thrilling scenes that make every other part of this movie feel second rate. And since the rest of Renfield is fine at best, you're really coming to this film just to see the leading pair in action.

At the same time, it feels incredibly refreshing to go and see an action film that is essentially standalone and 90 minutes in duration. I love Marvel, Star Wars, John Wick, DC, Avatar, James Bond, Fast and Furious, and all these other massive franchises as much as the next person, but these blockbusters come at the cost of smaller projects like Renfield, so the fact that this movie exists and features some great moments and performances is something that should be relentlessly celebrated in the era of modern film.

So, will Renfield blow you away? No. But is it an ideal film for anyone looking to head to the cinema for a couple of hours? Without a doubt. It's daft and has a few brilliant moments, and is, most importantly, fun. What more do you need from a 90 minute flick?