Arsenal (2017)

Arsenal is the kind of scrappy crime-thriller that earns its keep whenever it leans into raw emotion, messy brotherhood, and the sweaty tension of a rescue mission that keeps going sideways. The real draw, though, is Nicolas Cage cutting loose with gloriously unhinged energy—an unpredictable, full-throttle presence that jolts the movie awake every time he’s on screen and gives it that pulpy, late-night grit. It’s not a polished prestige thriller, and if you need airtight plotting you may feel the seams, but if you’re on the fence and want something rough-edged, fast-moving, and occasionally delightfully deranged, this one delivers a memorable kind of madness.

Arsenal is aiming for a gritty, brother-versus-crime-world rescue thriller, with enough gunplay and tough-guy posturing to feel like a throwback. The problem is it rarely builds real tension: the plot is thin, the characters are more sketches than people, and the violence comes off as repetitive rather than exciting. A couple of performances try to inject energy, but the direction feels flat, so scenes that should pop just kind of sit there. If you’re looking for a tight, clever crime story or emotional stakes, this will likely waste your time; if you only want a mindless, low-rent action-crime watch, you might tolerate it.