In his schlocky paycheck movies, Nicolas Cage glowers, throws tantrums, and consumes scenery by the mouthful, as if trying to prove he really means it. He does the same thing in "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans," Werner Herzog’s loopy and improbably entertaining remake of the 1992 Abel Ferrara cult classic -- except that Cage is now doing his bug-eyed operatic intensity thing because the role actually calls for it.

As Terence McDonagh, a New Orleans homicide cop who is always high on cocaine and heroin, Cage whips himself into adrenalized states beyond doubt or fear. At the same time, McDonagh uses his addictions to be a better cop. He’s a crackhead undercover agent in hell. He’s trying to solve a gangland slaying, and the deeper he goes, the more his investigation keeps getting entangled in his secret drug life, his gambling habit, and his attempts to keep his hooker girlfriend, played by Eva Mendes, happy and high.

"Bad Lieutenant" doesn’t go where you expect, but there’s a stubborn, trippy logic to it. Herzog stages the film as a modern-day film noir. The movie may be over the top, but it’s never quite out of control, and neither, in its way, is Cage’s performance. "Bad Lieutenant" even has iguanas -- real live scaly ones, shot in acid-head close-up, which doesn't sound like much until you realize that the only one who can see them is Cage. They’re a vision of evil, of the way that addiction drags you down into the serpent world.

"Bad Lieutenant" makes that a scarily arresting place to be.