Army of One - Nic vs Osama

Sometimes when a film starts off with the tagline 'Based on true events' you really do have to take it with a pinch of salt.  However, in the case of Nic Cage's 'Army of One' it does appear that this - unbelievably enough - actually happened!  One ordinary man in America decided back when terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden was alive an on the run, that he had been appointed by God in order to bring this fugitive to justice.

Here, we have an hour and a half of Nic Cage (dare I say as you've never seen him before - i.e. with a big white, bushy beard, receding hair and a matching ponytail) trying to figure out a way of getting from the U.S. to the Middle East in order to detail America's most wanted man.

It's clear from the start that our protagonist isn't, er, all that there.  He's supposed to be having regular kidney treatment and, upon skipping his doses, starts getting messages from God - who just so happens to look like Russell Brand.  Although Brand is featured heavily on all marketing, his input is little more than an extended cameo.  I'm no fan of his normally, but I do confess to laughing at his line delivery and any fan of his really will enjoy his performance, possibly even feeling a little short-changed at his lack of screen time.

Cage is well used to playing quirky characters and, once you get used to the weird, high-pitched voice he's putting on, you'll find him very watchable as he stumbles from one hair-brained scheme to the next.  If the film has a flaw it's that it is really based on real life.  We all know that one average guy didn't single-handedly capture Bin Laden, therefore the film has to reflect this and spends a lot of the second half trying to invent weird and wacky antics for our hero to do in Pakistan while he's trying to find out where his target is.

You also have a romantic sub-plot thrown in there.  I don't know whether this was based on anything that really happened or not (I'm guessing not!), but it does just seem to be in there - again - to fill time and just to pad out the run-time to make it into a feature length movie.

'Army of One' isn't anything that special, but it is quite watchable and Nic Cage alone guarantees that the movie is at least entertaining.  Plus his on-screen dynamic with Brand does seem to work and, for the brief moments they're together, they do have real chemistry.  Probably a 'rent' rather than a 'buy' type of film.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that