'Pig' Is Officially Nicolas Cage's Best-Reviewed Live-Action Movie
It's been a big week for pig movies. Yesterday, the Academy Award winner and Best Picture nominee Babe (co-written by George Miller, never forget!) celebrated its 26th anniversary of charming us all with its sheer feel-good wholesomeness. More recently and even more importantly, the Nicolas Cage-starring movie aptly titled Pig now officially holds the distinction of being the actor's best-reviewed live-action movie on Rotten Tomatoes across his entire career. Everyone rejoice!
The Rotten Tomatoes website marked the occasion by celebrating the unlikely journey the film took to reach this rarified status. Seriously, it's one worth reflecting on. Think back to the bewilderment people first felt towards the announcement of its premise. Nicolas Cage goes full John Wick when his pig gets kidnapped? Really? So wacky! Then there was the release of its shockingly meditative and low-key trailer, officially throwing our preconceptions for a loop as it featured Cage on the lowest energy setting we've seen him commit to in quite a while. Finally, it debuted and the subsequent glowing reactions (check out our review from /Film's own Chris Evangelista right here) painted it as a full-fledged critical darling, immediately making it shoot to the top of our must-watch lists.
It's a rags-to-riches story as inspiring as the opposite journey that Cage's famous chef-turned-truffle-hunter experiences in Pig.
Now, it's worth remembering that any Rotten Tomatoes score reflects the percentage of critics who gave any given film a positive review (essentially anything they find better than a 6/10), rather than serving as a value judgment on how good a movie is out of 100.
That said, Rotten Tomatoes points out that Pig's 97% positive reviews (out of a total of 151) match that of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (with 391 reviews), the beloved animated superhero movie in which Cage provided another well-received performance as Spider-Man Noir. Going by Rotten Tomatoes percentages, other top-rated Cage movies are led by John Woo's 1997 gloriously over-the-top action flick Face/Off with 92%, followed swiftly by the incredible (if somewhat hard to watch) Leaving Las Vegas at 90%, which saw Cage win the Oscar for Best Actor in 1995. Lord of War, which I'll always defend for both Cage's performance as well as the quality of the overall movie, comes out inexplicably low at a mere 61%. I hope Cage doesn't hold grudges as much as I do.
All Hail Pig Cinema
Obviously, the main takeaway from these developments is that studios must now push their chips to the center of the table and go all-in on every pig-related property they can possibly find. This is how you achieve critical adoration and reach guaranteed Oscar glory, Hollywood. Give us more pig cinema! Go hog wild! (See what I did there?)
Seriously though, Pig is a powerfully understated movie I still find myself thinking about all these weeks later and it absolutely earned its across-the-board praises. If you haven't had the chance to see it yet or aren't quite ready to step back into theaters, Pig is now available through video-on-demand on platforms like Vudu and Amazon. Go rent it and be prepared for as moving an experience as you'll find this year.