The Remaining Herzog: Bad Lieutenant 2

It just occurred to me that I've covered every Werner Herzog film, barring those with physical releases still pending, save one.  So let's get 'er done!  Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is an in-name-only sequel to Abel Ferrara's notorious cop drama starring Harvey Keitel.  It came about because one of the producers of the original, Edward R Pressman (American Psycho, Party Monster), wanted to cash in on the title and hired Herzog who's said he'd never even heard of the first film.  He wanted to drop the title but couldn't, contractually, so here we are, with a 2009 Herzog flick, based on a script by a television writer named William Finkelstein, with an arbitrary title that's maybe slightly annoying to Ferrara films, but so what?  It got a Herzog movie produced - I'll take it!

Admittedly, on the sliding Herzog scale, this leans more towards the For Completists Only end rather than the Masterpieces, but it's pretty entertaining if you can let go of your expectations from the original.  It's certainly wacky and should please any fan of the "Nicolas Cage goes nuts" oeuvre.  It's still basically about a bad cop who gets redeemed(ish) by solving a bigger crime.  But this one's the kind of movie where, when a criminal gets shot, his spirit come outs breakdance, and where local iguanas get as much screentime as lead characters in the story.  Even by Herzog standards, it's eccentric.

And Cage is just the tip of this wild cast spear.  Can you imagine another film where Jennifer Coolidge (White Lotus, The Minecraft Movie), Xzibit and Val Kilmer appear together?  Not enough star power?  We've also got Eva Mendes, Fairuza Balk, Brad Dourif and Michael Shannon.  We also get great footage of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and some more quality imagery from Herzog's frequent collaborator Peter Zeitlinger.  So maybe it's not a masterpiece, but now that it's had some time to get out from under Ferrara's shadow, it might be worth a reevaluation.  It's quite interesting, at least.  And it's one of those early blu-rays that was over-produced (in terms of quantity), so you can pick it up dirt cheap.

2009 First Look DVD top; 2009 First Look BD bottom.

First Look released this concurrently on DVD and BD as a new release, so the only difference between transfers should be between the SD and HD discs.  But there are some other differences.  The DVD's AR is slightly off at 1.83:1, with a vertical pinch compared to the BD's correct 1.85:1.  More importantly, the DVD is interlaced (look closely at the first comparison shot), while the BD is properly progressive.  So if you've got the DVD, that's a good reason to upgrade right there.  Another reason is the boost to HD, which is considerable.  There's a lot of additional fine detail on the BD, and less compression noise.

Both discs offer you the choice of lossy stereo mixes or 5.1s, which is uncompressed TrueHD on the blu.  They also both include optional English and Spanish subtitles.

And extras - the same across both discs - are pretty good here, too.  The main feature being a 31-minute behind the scenes making of documentary, which is quite good with lots of fly-on-the-wall footage.  Even if you're not huge on Bad Lieutenant 2, any serious Herzog fan should be glad to have this doc.  There's also a gallery of photos by Lena Herzog, Werner's wife, and the theatrical trailer.  There's also a bunch of bonus trailers packed on there.

So yeah, if you haven't got it, I do recommend this one, especially given the price and everything.  If you want to spend a little bit more, though, it's worth pointing out that various import versions, including the UK and DE blus, include additional EPK interviews with the cast and crew as well.  And this might be the right time for it, as a third Bad Lieutenant film, directed by Takashi Miike (Ichi the Killer, As the Gods Will), is actually coming out later this year.  Make a trilogy of it.

And with that, I guess I close the book on Werner Herzog coverage, at least until a new film of his gets a disc release.  ...Or I update an older post with a 4k restoration, which I'm actually planning to do soon.  I've been threatening Update Week 2025 for a while now, and it's about due.