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Parents' Guide to

A Score to Settle

By Brian Costello, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 16+

Uneven Nicolas Cage action movie; violence, drug use.

Movie NR 2019 103 minutes
A Score to Settle Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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What's the Story?

Frank (Nicolas Cage) has just been released from prison after serving time for nearly 20 years, and he has A SCORE TO SETTLE. He was a mob enforcer who took the fall for his boss after his boss clubbed a man to death with a baseball bat. Outside the prison gates, he's met by his now adult son Joey (Noah Le Gros), who is ambivalent at best upon reuniting with his father. After Frank finds the bag of money that was buried for him upon release from prison, he wants to take his son on a spending spree -- staying in a luxury hotel, buying expensive suits and watches, and fine dining. The other reason Frank wants to do this is because he's dying. Reconnecting with his son isn't the only item on Frank's agenda. He also wants to get even with his former mob cronies, who didn't hold up their end of the bargain: Frank's wife died while he was incarcerated, and his son sunk into the depths of drug addiction. The first crony Frank reconnects with is Q (Benjamin Bratt), who is now out of the game and running a high-end bar. Q tells Frank where he can find such betrayers like Jimmy the Dragon and The Tank, but as Frank begins to exact revenge, his quest puts his reborn relationship with his son in jeopardy, as well as the unlikely romance that seems to be forming between him and Simone, a sex worker who sees the good in Frank. Frank must decide if it's better to make the best of what he has with the time he has left, or to fulfill his plan of getting even.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

This so-so action movie has a somewhat interesting storyline marred by various stock characters and clichés and a plot twist that, in hindsight, seems all but inevitable. Nicolas Cage plays Frank, newly released from prison and determined to get even with characters with names like "Jimmy the Dragon" and "The Tank" while also trying to make up for lost time with his now adult son and finding romance in the form of the proverbial "hooker with a heart of gold." This impossible balancing act is further complicated by Frank's impending death due to chronic insomnia. This juggling act between revenge, reconciliation, and romance doesn't quite hold up, and you're left wishing that Frank had simply chosen one of the three and gone from there.

As Frank, Nicolas Cage is, well, Nicolas Cage, for better or worse. During a climactic scene in A Score to Settle, Cage's exasperated repetition of the word "Beef?!" (as in "beef with me") comes off as unintentionally hilarious self-parody, and should inevitably be converted into GIFs and memes sooner rather than later. And yet, you still find yourself rooting for Frank, even if he wasn't the best person before his imprisonment and doesn't seem that much better after his release, aside from efforts at vulnerability with his son and the aforementioned sex worker/love interest. The result is an uneven and somewhat trite movie, and not one of the better works in the Nic Cage canon.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about action movies. How does A Score to Settle compare to other action movies in terms of story, characters, violent content?

  • Was the violence necessary to the story, or did it seem gratuitous? Why?

  • A central element to this movie is a "plot twist." What are some other examples of movies with plot twists, or moments that are intended to be unexpected to the viewer?

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