Last month we had David Gordon Green's Joe to remind us how great Nicolas Cage can be when given some decent material. Since then, however, we've had trailers for The Rage and Left Behind to yank us back into Cage WTF territory. And now here's another, in the form of Nick Powell's Outcast. Cage stars alongside Hayden Christensen and Yifei Liu as a battling medieval Crusader called The White Ghost. It's Season Of The Witch all over again... but in 12th-century China.
Cage and Christensen have retired from their killing-for-God career when the story starts, and on the evidence in this clip haven't seen each other for a while. They re-team, however, to help the children of a deposed Chinese emperor battle their murderous usurper uncle (Andy On). Cage's choicest trailer lines are a peculiarly accented "How'd you find me, lad?" and "I am the White Ghost!". There's also an *excellent *laugh at 01:22.
Powell is a stunt-man and second-unit director with credits on Bourne, X-Men, Gladiator, The Last Samurai, and Paul WS Anderson's Three Musketeers and Resident Evil: Retribution. This is his debut as a fully-fledged director, and it's looking like his long experience of battle choreography has led to something fun... if not always for the right reasons.
James Dormer (the BBC Musketeers, 2011 David Bradley actioner The Holding) wrote the screenplay, and Paul Anderson's regular collaborator Jeremy Bolt is among the producers. Outcast is released in China next month, and in the States next February. We don't have a date for the UK so far.