Leaving Las Vegas Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

Leaving Las Vegas Blu-ray Movie Review

"I trust and accept your judgment..."

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown July 2, 2025

Writer/director Mike Figgis' award-winning 'Leaving Las Vegas' was first released on Blu-ray by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 2011. This first edition only included the 112-minute unrated cut of the film, leaving the theatrical version on the cutting room floor. The theatrical version wasn't sorely missed, though, as the differences between the two are exceedingly minor and only account for a minute of screentime. Sandpiper Pictures at least rectifies the fourteen-year-old MGM release's oversight by issuing 'Leaving Las Vegas' with both cuts intact, albeit with dated video transfers and an otherwise barebones disc.

'Leaving Las Vegas' appeared on over 100 "Ten Best" lists in 1995 and was Roger Ebert's selection for Best Film of the Year. Cage's role earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor, while Shue received a nomination for Best Actress and Figgis received nominations for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, from the novel by John O'Brien.

I can think of only a handful of movies that rise to such heights as Leaving Las Vegas almost solely on the performances of its lead actors. There's very little to Figgis' script, other than honest, insightfully pitch-perfect dialogue, and even that would falter were it not for Nicolas Cage's heart-aching vulnerability and Elizabeth Shue's haunting relinquishment. The romance here is formed fully around shared pain, and the actors sharing it are clearly feeling every sting, stab and gash. It's rare that two characters are placed alongside of one another without casting the terrible light of judgement on either companion's life, and it's here that Leaving Las Vegas explores its deepest wounds and most defining scars. It's a triumph, really, even if the film never quite satisfies at the level I believe it could, and it's a statement as to just how impactful the right actors can be given the right material. How Shue lost the Best Actress Academy Award and how she failed to become an A-lister is beyond me; without her, Cage's winning performance would be bitter and incomplete. Together, they forge one of the most believable chemistries of the 1990s indie scene and lift Leaving Las Vegas from the gutter of addiction into the light of timeless cinema.

"You know, I bring out the best in the men who f*** me. I mean, it's not easy, but I'm very good. I mean, it's amazing. It's like I've- I've worked for a really long time and: boom. I just turn on a dime. I can just become who they want me to be. I walk into that room, I know right away: this is their fantasy. And I become it. I'm that service, you know. I just... I perform it and I perform it well. I mean, I'm an equation most of the time, it's like 30 minutes of my body costs $300. Well, that's just to get into the room. And then, it's about $500. After that, you know, we negotiate. But it's a performance. It's definitely a performance."

Mike Figgis' 1995 drama seems like a throwback to filmic days of yore with its gritty and unsettling portrayal of a dissolute alcoholic screenwriter named Ben Sanderson (Nicolas Cage in an Academy Award-winning performance) who reaches out for a strange sort of romantic détente with a Vegas prostitute named Sera (Elisabeth Shue). Leaving Las Vegas turns out to really be less about Cage's addiction, as harrowing as it is, than about the patently strange rapprochement these two wounded souls find over the course of a short time in Sin City. Though Figgis is a Londoner, he may have fallen prey to that old Hollywood bugaboo of being fascinated with itself, for part and parcel of Leaving Las Vegas' subtext is the fact that Ben is a once successful Hollywood insider who has let substance abuse destroy his promise. The film is done in an intentionally lo-fi manner which allows the emphasis to be put squarely on the performances and, by way of those, the characters. In fact, there's little if any plot to this film. Ben gets fired from his job in Los Angeles and goes to Las Vegas to drink himself to death, where he meets and falls in love with Shue, who is under the thumb of a brutish Latvian pimp named Yuri (Julian Sands). Ben and Sera perhaps recognize a mutual desire for escape and form a tenuous friendship which rather quickly blossoms into something more than that. But what exactly? Is this a traditional, if dour, romance? Hardly. These are two deeply scarred individuals who insist the other can't make even a passing criticism, let alone request any major (or even minor) behavioral changes.

Click here to read the rest of Jeffrey Kauffman's excellent review of Leaving Las Vegas, a "quasi-Art House film which is unabashedly dour, depressing and dark" that's "anchored by two amazing performances." He adds, "there's an honesty at the core of Cage's tortured performance and Shue's turn that gives the film an energy beyond the sometimes-trite formulas it can't quite avoid utilizing. Especially moving in this regard is the final scene, an understated denouement that... opens a soul-searching door of such profundity that it invites the viewer to question the very nature of Ben's existence and what he's done with his life."

Leaving Las Vegas Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Minted from a dated, problematic master, Leaving Las Vegas' 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer is a tale of two presentations. Shot in 16mm, the film was already an extremely grainy, at-times soft-focused feature, one that would look incredibly filmic were it given a proper restoration. While it would no doubt still present challenges under high-definition scrutiny, it would certainly reflect Figgis' intentions and Declan Quinn's photography more accurately and struggle with fewer distractions and anomalies. As is, the grain field is rendered rather soupy; inconsistent on the whole; attractive one moment, lifeless and ill-defined the next. Edge enhancement has also been utilized (though it's only really noticeable in the softest of shots) and ringing and halos aren't entirely uncommon. Detail is obviously impeded, black levels aren't wholly satisfying, and contrast is a bit uneven. That's not to say Leaving Las Vegas looks terrible. Beyond the messier sequences, colors are strong and stable, skintones are almost always lifelike and convincing, detail remains decidedly decent, and the film's indie nature still stands tall. I wouldn't recommend skipping this release in hopes of Criterion or another boutique label acquiring the rights and doing Leaving Las Vegas justice. Were they interested, it seems it would have happened by now. Instead, I suppose it's left to us to be grateful that we have the film on Blu-ray at all.

Leaving Las Vegas Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There isn't a lot to Leaving Las Vegas' DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track. Much of the film involves hushed conversations between lovers, one a depressive drunk, the other a pragmatist, and in small, quiet rooms at that. There are moments in which the soundfield widens -- casinos, bars and restaurants -- but even then the bulk of the mix is handed over to Figgis' sometimes brash jazz score. Still, dialogue is supported perfectly, prioritization is spot on, and dynamics are robust when called upon. Likewise, rear speaker activity is precise and punctual and LFE output is reasonably weighty and supportive. No complaints here.

Leaving Las Vegas Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Two extras are included with the Blu-ray release of Leaving Las Vegas: the film's R-rated theatrical cut and its original theatrical trailer. The unrated cut is billed on the back cover as featuring "explicit footage not seen in theaters," though there's nothing really explicit about it. Sex scenes are lengthened ever so slightly but stick to the same relatively tasteful but blunt approach to sexuality as the rest of the film.

Leaving Las Vegas Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Leaving Las Vegas is an astonishing film that features two bold, startlingly authentic performances from Nicolas Cage and Elizabeth Shue. The actors disappear from view, leaving only two pained individuals struggling to endure the trials and tribulations of lives better left unlived; lovers who discover their humanity through one another without spite, judgement or failing. Unfortunately, Sandpiper Pictures' Blu-ray release of the film isn't quite all I had hoped. Its video presentation is dated and problematic; hardly the remaster the film deserves. But at least its audio is strong. The fact that it includes both the theatrical and unrated cuts of the film is also a boon (even if there are very few differences between the two).