Nearly ten years ago, Nicolas Cage starred in Army of One, a comedy based on the real-life story of Gary Faulkner, an ex-construction contractor who believed that God had sent him on a mission to capture Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. That sounds like it could have been fantastic, but unfortunately, the film was absolutely eviscerated upon release. Nearly everyone hated it. The film was disowned by director Larry Charles, who said it was heavily recut by Bob Weinstein. If you’ve been dying to know what Charles’ original vision for Army of One was, he’s uploaded the unreleased director’s cut on YouTube. Actually, he uploaded it nearly a year ago, but it doesn’t look like many people have watched it (thanks to World of Reel for the heads-up!)
You can check out the director’s cut of Army of One below, but be warned, it runs a whopping 2 hours and 40 minutes. For comparison, the theatrical version ran 93 minutes
As you can tell, the quality isn’t the best, but it’s watchable, especially if you’re curious to find out what Charles originally envisioned back in 2016.
In his review of the theatrical cut of Army of One, our own Chris Bumbray figured out early on that it would not be his cup of tea. “To give him credit, Cage goes all-in here,” Bumbray wrote. “This isn’t USS Indianapolis, where he looks embarrassed to be in such a low-rent production. He really tries, but Charles’s direction doesn’t help at all. It’s as if he directed Cage to act like he’s Sacha Baron Cohen, but that’s not where Cage’s talents lay. Having him play slapstick doesn’t work, and rather than finding the note that would endear him to us, his Faulkner is agonizing to watch, a problem for your main character.“
He continued, “It’s really a shame Army of One turned out so poorly as it’s chockfull of talent. This should have been good, and the premise is ambitious. In the end, the germ of a good idea wasn’t nearly enough to sustain a feature, and this is like a bad Funny or Die sketch stretched to feature-length. Only die-hard Cage fans need apply.” You can check out the rest of his review right here. Perhaps he’ll like the director’s cut a little more.
