Most years pass with zero movies about truffles. Bizarrely, 2021 produced two movies related to that topic.

First came Truffle Hunters, a documentary about Italians who perform the titular activity. 2021 also produced Pig, a fictionalized drama.

Rob Feld (Nicolas Cage) lives a solitary life in the wilds of Oregon. There he searches for truffles in the woods along with his hunting pig.

Rob’s quiet life becomes disrupted when unknown assailants assault him and steal his porcine pal. Determined to retrieve his only friend, Rob engages on a violent quest to find his pig.

Over the years, we found Cage in plenty of low-grade projects that he seemed to take for no reason other than to make a buck. Pig feels like something different, if just because it presents such an odd proposition.

Face it: one look at that plot synopsis and one would assume Pig provides a comedy. How could that tale not act as a parody of revenge thrillers?

While we do get some quirky humor from Pig, it mostly offers a drama. The movie mainly concerns itself with Rob’s tale and what led him to his current status.

That gives it some twists and turns, although I can’t claim these become terribly surprising. We know Rob hides from his past, so we expect an exploration of how he ended up this way.

Not much about Pig goes down an especially creative route in that regard, but it still delivers a reasonably good character tale. While we may find little that feels fresh, the film develops Rob and his backstory with mostly positive depth.

As we also get to know Rob’s business partner Amir (Alex Wolff), Pig gradually evolves into an odd “mismatched buddy flick”. That side of things does surprise, and it becomes the most compelling aspect of the tale, as the connection between Cage and Wolff works.

Cage reins in his usual hammy vibe here. Though not one of his best performances, Cage makes Rob an effective vision of a damaged character, and as noted, he melds well with Wolff.

Pig doesn’t fire on all cylinders, and it can drag at times. Nonetheless, it creates a fairly involved drama with reasonable depth.

Pig appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This was a good but not great image.

For the most part, sharpness satisfied. Occasional wide shots tended to be a bit iffy, but the majority of the flick demonstrated positive delineation and clarity.

I noticed no shimmering, jaggies or edge enhancement. The image remained clean and lacked any source defects.

Colors were subdued. The movie preferred a somewhat teal feel with some amber/orange as well, and it lacked many instances of vibrant hues. The tones seemed fine within stylistic choices.

Blacks were dark and tight, but shadows tended to be inconsistent, as low-light shots could be somewhat dull. Overall, this was a generally positive presentation but not a great one.

Similar thoughts greeted the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Pig, as it offered a decent but not great auditory experience. Sound quality was always good, at least.

Music demonstrated nice range and depth, though the film emphasized a spare sensibility, so we didn’t get a lot of score. In addition, effects failed to play a major role, but they seemed acceptably clear and accurate, while speech was distinctive and natural.

The soundscape lacked much to impress. As noted, the score didn’t pop up a ton of the time. The music showed good imaging when it appeared, but it wasn’t a frequent partner.

Effects also had little to do, as they focused the realm of general environment. A few scenes – mainly those that involved violence and vehicles – added a nice sense of pizzazz, but most of the flick remained low-key in terms of soundfield. All of this added up to an adequate but lackluster soundtrack.

A few extras appear here, and two clips appear under Nicolas Cage Cooks. For "Three-Mushroom Tart" (20:05), actor Nicolas Cage engages with Chef Chris Czarnecki, whereas "Pigeon and Pommes Anna" (18:18) pairs Cage with Chef Gabriel Rucker.

As implied by the title, both clips show us Cage as he learns how to create the dishes with the aforementioned chefs. This seems like a fun concept but the end result can feel less than enchanting, as the featurettes run long and don’t offer a lot of real interest.

Three deleted scenes span a total of seven minutes. These include "Drunk Man" (2:57), "Cleaning Up" (1:24), and "Kitchen" (2:39). The scenes offer some minor character moments but don’t seem especially important or valuable overall.

The disc opens with ads for Spencer and Titane. We also find a trailer for Pig.

As a moody character piece, Pig creates a sporadically intriguing effort. While not wholly satisfying, it creates a decent sense of tone and attitude. The Blu-ray offers very good picture, reasonably positive audio and minor supplements. This turns into an inconsistent but generally compelling drama.