Leaving Las Vegas

1995

Action / Drama / Romance

79
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 85% · 52 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 85% · 50K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.5/10 10 143881 143.9K

hotel room dying and death individual prostitute lovesickness rage and hate

Plot summary

Ben Sanderson, an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter who lost everything because of his drinking, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There, he meets and forms an uneasy friendship and non-interference pact with prostitute Sera.

Director

Mike Figgis Photo
Mike Figgis

Top cast

Nicolas Cage Photo
Nicolas Cage as Ben Sanderson
Thomas Kopache Photo
Thomas Kopache as Mr. Simpson
David Brisbin Photo
David Brisbin as Landlord
Gordon Michaels Photo
Gordon Michaels as Security Guard
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
500.57 MB
1280*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 51 min
Seeds 19
2.07 GB
1920*1040
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 52 min
Seeds 44

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by luke-a-mcgowan 8 / 10

An unrelenting tragedy, with raw and passionate performances

Having recovered from the mind-numbing Heat, a supposed character study, I was eager to sink my teeth into a different 1995 gem and I found it here with Leaving Las Vegas. With only two important characters, the entire film rests heavily on the shoulders of Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue, and neither of them disappoint.Of the two, Nicolas Cage is the Oscar winner and the truly deserving one at that. He is simply hypnotic as Ben Sanderson, an alcoholic so far gone he doesn't even remember why he wants to die. His withdrawal scenes are so real they are upsetting, whereas his drunken charisma is so real its almost funny. The balance that Cage strikes really highlights how tragic his character really is. He conveys hatred and rage and loneliness and despair, and you will be so sad yet so hooked that its impossible to look away. Elisabeth Shue gets off to a slower start than Cage, but she is still an endearing, emotional character, capable of great things.The writing is very good, giving Cage the perfect, pitiful dialogue in order to serve his woeful character, and even throws in a hypnotic monologue or two. The best thing that Figgis achieves in this film is his cruel and deliberate intersplicing of mood-killing incidents (invariably caused by alcohol) between the moments of love and passion that Shue and Cage share. It is a relentless reminder that their love story is completely doomed. Sting's My One and Only Love is all over this film, which I thought was a very good choice, in addition to the beautiful and haunting score.The final act focuses a little too much on Shue and not enough on Cage, and whilst their final scene together was appropriately pathetic to suit the tragedy of the film, I couldn't help but feel less engaged. I also didn't enjoy Shue's constant commentary, given that it doesn't really go anywhere.But between the raw passion of Nicholas Cage and the uncompromising guiding hand of Mike Figgis, any complaints I could ever have otherwise found in Leaving Las Vegas are completely washed away.
Reviewed by klindon-38400 8 / 10

Possibly one of the greatest performances ever

Nic Cage is hit and miss with me. This is him at his best. His pain, apathy, hopelessness, helplessness, pathetic-ness (if that's a word) is heart wrenching. You can't help but pity him but at the same time you know he's on the correct path -- for him. It's sad. But beautiful at the same time because of his relationship with her. The thing that makes this performance so amazing to me is that he's usually such a loud, boisterous character, sometimes to the point of obnoxiousness but here he is so understated. If it's not the best performance of all time, it is definitely his best performance. For me.
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