Oh, Mandy (Well, You Came And You Gave Without Taking But I Sent You Away)

     I watched Mandy (which starred Nicolas Cage), and my mind was blown. The plot is simple and probably overused: a quiet man and his book-loving wife were abducted by thugs (crazy cult members in this movie). The wife was sexually molested and was set on fire while the husband was left to die. He survived and armed with a chainsaw and an axe-looking weapon he himself made, he started hunting and killing the evil culprits one by one.

     But how this story was presented is weird, brutal, gory, horrific,  trippy, hypnotic, exquisite and very entertaining. It’s like a long, hazy, colorful, surreal dream. Almost every scene is framed like a dark painting and splashed with neon colors, the cinematography is really  good and the musical score haunting, foreboding and psychedelic. My only complaint is that the main villain easily crumbled and didn't put up much of a fight at the end.

     And yes, Nicolas Cage’s acting here is over the top, as usual, but that’s part of the fun. And the movie’s not for everyone, if you like rom-coms or The Sound Of Music-types of movies or Frozen, let it go because the hills aren't alive in this movie.