Nicolas Cage in an under the counter potboiler. B-movies like Seeking Justice went out of style at least a decade ago, but they still get made I guess because Cage needs his desperation paychecks and producers need cable-TV movies that will play worldwide. But hold on, I actually was entertained by some of it, as preposterous as it was. Of all the movies that Cage has sold out his cred for in exchange for a paycheck, at least this one, is a watchably loony noir. Just don’t go out of your way to see it, it’s not that good. Cage plays New Orleans high school teacher, Will Gerard, who makes a rash decision to enlist the help of a vigilante kingpin to avenge the recent assault on his wife in exchange in participating in a swap crime.

January Jones (“Unknown”), as Will’s wife, Laura, is one of the most attractive ingénues in the movies today – she fulfills her pretty duties. Guy Pearce (“Memento”) is a convincing bad guy as Simon, but someone like Jeremy Irons (“Die Hard with a Vengeance” would have been more salivating in the part. Pearce has the chops, but he just doesn’t fly with it like he should. Simon is a self-justifying fascist instead of a diabolical psycho. Irons could have played this more with Nietzschean vanity.

Simon is Dirty Harry without a badge. But he’s much sicker than that, putting the reluctant Will through a charade that eventually entraps him in much bigger trouble. Will spends the remainder of the movie’s running time clearing his name, running from both Simon and from the law. Cage isn’t doing “Con Air” here, he’s doing a sorry sap role of an ordinary guy who’s ducking from men who now want him dead.

Cage last starred in “Trespass,” the worst film of last year. “Seeking Justice” is too another sell-out for him, but at least it doesn’t totally stink.

104 Minutes. Rated R.

SUSPENSE-THRILLER / GUILTY PLEASURE / LATE NIGHT THRILLS

Film Cousins: “Strangers on a Train” (1951); “Death Wish” (1974); “Red Rock West” (1994); “Nick of Time” (1995).