I have a rocky history with Nicolas Cage. Not only is his name one letter off of mine, but he also makes some horrible movies. But, he also has a couple gems hiding in his oeuvre. Let’s see if Pig is a part of the former or the latter.

First off, the parallel must be made; Pig looks like another John Wick clone. Much as Nobody was earlier this year. In fact, this is how the movie was sold to me. But I have to say right off the bat, Pig is certainly not another John Wick. But there are still strong parallels between the two films. In a very interesting, fresh way.

Nicolas Cage plays a character whom is a truffle hunter in Oregon (I’m purposely leaving out his name because it sort of becomes a spoiler). He lives out in the middle of nowhere with his beloved truffle pig. One night, an underground society of truffle hunters come and steal Nicolas Cage’s pig. Nicolas Cage’s main purchaser (played by Alex Wolff) takes him into the city of Portland to hunt down the people who took his pig. This is the main parallel to John Wick. But it does not stop there. Nicolas Cage, as it turns out, is a renown chef around Portland. He is well respected within a sort of mysterious chef hierarchy. He has a lot of connections and uses them to hunt down his pig. This shroud of mystery also feels really John Wicky. In fact, it’s my favorite part of the original John Wick. I love that we, as the audience, don’t get to see any past history of this weird chef mob-esque world. It’s amazing and we just have to figure it out as we go. But, the movie takes a really hard turn from John Wick when it comes to the action. Outside of a scene where Nicolas Cage gets beaten up by some other rich chefs (in which he does not fight back), there is no fighting at all. Where John Wick is just fighting scene after fighting scene, Pig has cooking scenes. It’s wonderful! It’s all about chefs and the chefs do their talking through cooking. It feels so real and grounded. I loved loved loved this. Plus, we get to see just how important food is to these people. Nicolas Cage is a renowned chef for a reason and everyone just wants to see him work. It’s marvelous.

Avoiding spoilers, Pig has a really melancholy feel to it. The movie is shrouded in mystery. The more we find out, the more we realize why this pig is so important to Nicolas Cage. We learn a lot about his past and we truly feel for this guy. I also feel that Nicolas Cage absolutely nails this part. A lot of his movies are a little too over the top. But Pig rides the line brilliantly. Nicolas Cage is perfect and nearly every character is perfect. I truly loved the story and the feeling of this movie. It’s really hard to talk about without spoilers though.

Overall, I give Pig a 3 out of 4. It has been called “John Wick with a pig.” But I feel that’s a bad comparison. Pig really is its own entity. It takes that Wick formula and totally turns it into a cooking show. If that would have been told to me, however, I probably wouldn’t have wanted to go. But I promise you, it’s totally worth the view. Cage completely nails his role and really drives home the sorrow in his character. I loved this movie. It might not be a blockbuster like John Wick, but it is still a wonderful film. The movie does take quite a while to get going, however. The pace of the movie is rather slow. The final payoff of the film is really only about fifteen minutes of the film. The buildup is a really slow burn. Which sometimes makes for a wonderful reveal, but Pig sort of feels like the payoff could have come a little sooner. Maybe that helps drive home the melancholy feeling, but I feel the pacing is just a little off in this movie.

Other than that, I loved it so so very much. Please go see Pig because I feel that it might disappear without much fanfare. Which would be a total shame.