Nicolas Cage is a tour de force in the acting world. He’s starred in so many movies across so many genres that it’s hard to place him – other than how well he plays, well, Nic Cage!
Hot on the heels of his latest starring role in Madden for 2026, however, it’s got me looking back over his extensive archive – and picking out a number of his best-rated movies.
Plucked from the movie score aggregation site, Rotten Tomatoes, these five picks are among his best-rated by either critics and/or audience viewers. And each is available to stream right now – a number from no-cost platforms if you’re in the UK.
So, without further ado, here are the five best Nic Cage movies to watch right now, complete with their trailers, where-to-watch links, and a little overview of what to expect from each. Happy Cage-ing!
1. Pig
Pig is more indie flick than you might expect a major star like Cage to lead, but here we are – and what a surprise treat this one is.
Cage plays Rob Feld, a former chef who lives alone in the wilderness. He hunts truffles with the aid of his prize pig, which he then sells to restaurants to pay his way of life.
Director Michael Sarnoski, who since went on to direct A Quiet Place: Day One, delivers a dark and gritty watch – but while there’s a share of violence, it’s not all-out all of the time.
Instead, Pig focuses on Feld’s loss and grief, and how such events can affect our lives in more relatable ways than you may anticipate. Cage hits real and rare depth in this role.
2. Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
What’s particularly brilliant about Cage’s role as Spider-Man Noir in the Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse movie is that it went on to spawn its own live-action, black-and-white series on Amazon – in which Cage stars.
Spider-Verse is a very different movie, from Sony Pictures Animation, the studio which also made KPop Demon Hunters and Goat (which is one of the highest-grossing movies of recent times).
Don’t let its animated style fool you into thinking this is only one for the kids, however, as the second chapter in this series of three (the conclusion is expected mid-2027 now), is as mature as it is family friendly.
Cage’s role here is a bit part, in truth, but the movie is too good to leave out of this particular list. Small role, big impact!
3. Face/Off
Now we’re getting to Cage’s heyday, with Face/Off widely regarded as an all-time classic from director John Woo. How Con Air also didn’t make this list I have no idea – but its Rotten Tomatoes ratings just didn’t make the cut.
Released in 1997, Face/Off stars John Travolta as co-lead, playing FBI agent Sean Archer, who is set to take down trying to take down Cage’s terrorist protagonist, Castor Troy. How? By borrowing his face to go undercover like never before.
Problem is, Troy awakens after the temporary surgery, absent of face, and makes surgeons attach Archer’s. With the two arch enemies wearing one another’s faces, you can already envision the madness that follows.
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4. Leaving Las Vegas
Arguably one of Cage’s most-loved roles, which really helped him to carve out a career, Leaving Las Vegas was released in 1995 to critical acclaim.
Based on the novel by John O’Brien, the movie follows an alcoholic screenwriter, Ben Sanderson (played by Cage), who is on quite the boozy bender. He meets a prostitute (Elisabeth Shue), but they strike up an unconventional relationship.
He can’t stop the drinking, she can’t cease doing her job for need of the money, and the two destructive pathways continue to collide in this chaotic romance. They don’t make ’em like this any more.
5. The Rock
Picked from Rotten Tomatoes’ audience-approved list, The Rock is another 90s banger, with the legend Sean Connery also taking a major role – as John Patrick Mason, a British spy (no, not that one!).
Cage plays Dr Stanley Goodspeed, a chemical weapons expert, who must assist Mason in his quest to prevent a chemical weapons launch from Alcatraz island by General Francis X Hummel (Ed Harris).
If it all sounds a little bit James Bond meets Indiana Jones but in 90s America then, well, it pretty much is – in the cheesiest and best of ways. The Connery and Cage magic was bottled for one movie and one movie only – as the pair never starred alongside one another again.
