I’m never sure what to make of Nicholas Cage. He’s such a “feast-or-famine” actor. For every Joe (2013) there’s a Rage (2014); for every Leaving Las Vegas (1995), there’s an awful remake of The Wicker Man (2006). So where does Mandy fit in? I’m not really certain. The only thing I am sure of is that many of you will group it with the latter films in the previous comparisons, rather than the former. It would seem to be a film perfectly suited to Cage’s…unique form of acting. In the dreamlike world of Mandy, full of colored lens filters, evil cults, demonic biker gangs, and sex, drugs, and rock and roll, Cage’s tendency to chew scenery fits right in.

On the surface, the premise sounds a little ridiculous, like something out of a freshman writing class, like an opera, penned by the publishers of Heavy Metal magazine. Red Miller (Cage) and Mandy (Andrea Riseborough) live a peaceful life in the quiet wilderness. But that peace is shattered abruptly when the cult Children of the New Dawn kidnap Mandy because their androgynous, narcissistic leader, Jeremiah Sand (Linus Roache), saw her walking along the road and wanted her. That, in itself, would be bad enough for the couple, but then something bad, something very, very bad (that last bit said in my best Nicholas Cage voice) happens to Mandy, and Red is wounded and left for dead. The rest of the movie consists of Red tracking down those responsible, like some broken avenging angel.

I should probably say that many of the professional reviews out there are glowing. They love the feel of director Panos Cosmatos’s arthouse/grindhouse bastard, with its hallucinatory, psychedelicly-tinted scenes of blue, green, and (especially) red (Red?), as well as its near-omnipresent score (by the late Johan Johansson), and deliberate pace. Sadly, those are all the things that turned me off. It felt a little like a song with a catchy melody, but inane lyrics (“MMMBop,” anyone?), and try as I might, I just couldn’t latch onto anything. The score, which so many have raved about, just felt oppressive, to the point where, more than once, I wished for subtitles and a set of earplugs. The characters seemed particularly uninteresting (although Cage does have a few moments of solid acting here and there). But perhaps that’s because we don’t really get to know them all that well. I found that really odd, because the film runs just over two hours, and the first half is all about setting up the second half’s vengeance, yet in that first hour, we only get glimpses of who this couple is: quick-cuts and wisps of memories. The second half just takes us inevitably where we knew we were going to go all along. Both feel too long, and—paradoxically—sparse at the same time.

Is it cool? Yeah, I guess. It’s got motorcycle-riding demonic assassins, dueling chainsaws, lots of gore, and even some Frazetta-esque* animation sprinkled in, if you like unrealistically-proportioned naked babes. And like that song’s catchy melody, it is kinda purty. But that’s not going to be enough for some people.

Mandy is really more of an experience than a film. If you can go into it, and let it wash over you, and not question it too much, or peek behind the curtain, you’ll probably enjoy yourself. Honestly, I felt a little bored, which was upsetting because I had heard such good things and was really excited to see it.

The voters at IMDB.com agree with the critics, giving it a 6.7. An unforgiving editor and a less-intrusive score might have gotten me there, but as it stands, I’m more in the 4.5 range.  (running time 2:01)

* Frank Frazetta (1928-2010) was an American artist, known for his science-fiction and fantasy work. His work has graced, among many other places, the covers of albums by hard-rock bands, such as Molly Hatchet and Nazareth.

And yes, I have been humming “MMMBop” this whole time. Dammit.