Cage ponders the question: "Do fish have dreams?"

Nicolas Cage at his most overwrought has always seemed like a dead man who’s too restless to lie down, hoping that flailing hyperactivity will somehow force oxygen back into his lungs. He’s built for a necropolis and Martin Scorsese used that quality in Cage for Bringing Out the Dead. Werner Herzog has likewise tapped into that vibe in this second but non-sequel Bad Lieutenant film, which has the actor stumbling, stealing and snorting his way through New Orleans in the wake of Katrina.

The Herzog and Cage pairing was always meant to be; the director’s eccentric, impressionistic vision is a perfect match for the wild-eyed actor who is almost doing an impression of himself. Cage plays Terence McDonagh, a Big Easy cop with a hooker girlfriend (Eva Mendes), a raft of addictions and a gambling problem, whose redemption–if it’s to arrive at all–is going to have come more from luck than effort. He’s ostensibly investigating a big murder case, but it’s just backdrop for extreme misbehavior and devastating guilt.

In one scene, a wasted, spectral McDonagh hides in a corner of a room with a battery-powered razor, feverishly trying to prevent an encroaching beard. But before long, it will be five o’clock and the shadow will return. (Available via Netflix and other outlets.)