Another week, another Nicolas Cage film. The Oscar-winning actor is clearly on a quest to break some kind of record for starring in the most films of all time, with this being the sixth film he’s appeared in this year alone.

But sadly it’s very much a case of quantity over quality, with the actor seemingly suffering from an inability to detect a bad script from, well a really bad one. But if he ever needs a personal barometer, then he can always use this effort as an example of being the worst of the very worse.

Living in Miami with her husband is Ashley (Ashley Greene) and her young daughter Sarah (Thalia Campbell).

When her husband takes something from the very bad people he works for, he immediately puts his whole family in danger, so he tells her to take their daughter as far away as they can, to a place she can’t be found. This means to Ashley’s father Matt (Cage), who lives on the Cayman Island, and who she hasn’t seen nor heard from in a considerable amount of time.

Although she isn’t happy with the idea, she realises she has little choice, so the pair go to the airport. But when there’s only one seat left, she sends her daughter alone, slipping in the stolen thumb drive into her bag with her. Which right there is a bad sign of parenting.

Sarah manages to track down Matt, the grandfather she’s never seen before, and she explains the situation to him. It doesn’t take much for him to work out that both his daughter and grand-daughter are in trouble, which is re-enforced when trouble finds its way to them. But unbeknownst to daughter and granddaughter, Matt has a past that involves working for the US government, in a capacity that means that they couldn’t have gone to anyone better for help.

There a three truths that can be discovered from this film, with one of which we already knew: the first two are that Tim Brown can neither write or direct to a proficient level, and the third is that Cage really can’t be trusted when agreeing a project.

Here is an example of a really bad film. It’s so bad that it serves as a reminder that overall, we really are quite fortunate with the quality of releases overall, because stinkers this bad really are few and far between. And unfortunately, a good yard stick to determine its quality usually – or lack of, thereof – is whether Cage is in it or not. Harsh, but mildly accurate, as he really does have a chequered CV.

Most of the blame can be squarely laid at the feet of Brown, who shows no ability to direct actors to a professional level whatsoever. He’s not helped by a diabolically poor script – which he also wrote – that is borderline farcical from the off.

There is a nugget of an interesting theme however, with the relationship of killer Bobo, played by Ron Perlman, and that of Sarah, that is slightly reminiscent of the one that exists in Leon; unfortunately it isn’t expanded upon, and quickly gets lost in the sea of pure and utter tripe.

And as for Cage himself, he probably has some fun with his character, but he’s the only one that does, in what is yet another appearance in a woefully bad film that completely undermines his considerable talent.

If he continues this trend, which in truth he has been for some years, maybe, as much as it pains us to say it, the film’s title should act as a recommendation for Cage himself.