Drive Angry

Milton (Nicolas Cage) is hunting Satanic cult leader Jonah King (Billy Burke) who murdered his daughter and kidnapped her baby. Jonah is about to sacrifice the baby in 3 day's time. Milton gets a ride off of roadside diner waitress Piper (Amber Heard). Meanwhile Milton is pursued by the powerful Accountant (William Fichtner).

It's all pumping music and overblown action with a splash of female nudity. Amber Heard is strutting around in her Daisy Dukes. There is a lot to like, but the story isn't that compelling. It is a simplistic balls-out no-holds-bar vulgar entertainment. It's not going to win any awards, but it's good for the midnight crowd.

This movie really is one of those guilty pleasure types, where you know it's a bad movie but really enjoy watching it because of the crazy entertainment value. It also has a grindhouse feel to it as well, a very entertaining grindhouse type film. There is just certain elements in this movie that made it entertaining despite it having a bad script and not a very well crafted dialogue with one liners. When I first saw the trailer to this movie I already could tell it's going to be a bad movie, it looked like "Gone in Sixty Seconds" with a vengeance. The movie is ridiculous and absurd in so many levels, but for a movie like this that is one of the key factors why this movie is so enjoyable. Billy Burke is pretty good playing the cult leader but the most entertaining actor to watch in this movie is William Fichtner as The Accountant or the Devil's right hand man, he is great in this and I enjoyed every scene he was in. In fact I wouldn't mind seeing a prequel or a sequel to this movie where he is the main character. What I really enjoyed besides William Fichtner performance is the 3D effect, this is a movie that is well worth the extra cash to see it in 3D. The 3D is very well executed and used very well and added a lot to the entertainment factor. The sex scenes and nudity is very unique at times and kinda funny in others. Amber Heard is beautiful in this and hot, in fact I personally think the overrated Megan Fox has nothing on her when it comes to the level of hotness. Plus Amber Heard can act a bit better than Megan Fox, although she is pretty in other movies she is really beautiful in this. It's not a movie that should be taken seriously and it knows it's not going in a serious direction and does it well, with bunch of stuff that doesn't make any sense. If your looking for a good story you will be disappointed, but if your looking for a crazy and entertaining balls to the wall type of movie I recommend you see this.

7.6/10

A small but existent segment of the American population believes that any and all combinations of cars, guns and naked women make for the perfect care-free cinematic cocktail. But like any cocktail, there's a perfect blend required, not simply throwing them in a blend-er. Behold the difference between the "Fast and Furious" franchise and "Drive Angry." The former, for example, understands that women make the cars more beautiful, whereas Patrick Lussier, writer and director of "Drive Angry," believes that they go together because they're two things men like.

"Drive Angry" is not the awful kind of schlocky grindhouse flick, but it's completely hollow filmmaking. Shot in 3D, when you watch the film in the "inferior" two dimensions, you can tell the film was meant to be watched in 3D the way bullets and shrapnel come toward the camera. Fans of the 3-D medium who despise converted 3D will rejoice at the director's intention to use it, but this intention serves nothing more than the purpose of gimmick. In other words, cars, guns, naked women — and 3D.

Who better for the driver seat than Nicolas Cage? Sporting yet another hairstyle, Cage gets to play angry stoic man escaped from hell. Vengeance, of course, lies at the heart of any reputable exploitation flick, so at least Lussier and writing partner Todd Farmer understand their genre. The execution, however, comes off as amateur, especially in an age with folks such as Robert Rodriguez pulling off the genre in a modern era with more success — and humor especially.

Creativity for "Drive Angry" comes in the form of Cage's Milton shooting down several religious fanatics trying to kill him with farming tools — all while maintaining sexual intercourse with the waitress from the bar next door. That could be chalked up to a genre signature, but it doesn't serve any other purpose in the film. Usually the nudity or sex tells us something about the lone wolf lead character or adds to his mystique, but it really doesn't in this case. Milton's motivation is to get back his baby granddaughter from a Satanist cult that intends to sacrifice her. Having escaped from hell to do so and with Satan's "accountant" (William Fichtner) on his tail, his actions should be pretty clear-cut. After all, he doesn't even fall for the young blonde he's picked up for the ride (Amber Heard).

Heard represents that kick-ass feminist force in the male-centric exploitation flick. Piper vice grips her boss's balls when he puts his hands on her at work and then promptly quits, goes home early in her '69 Charger with "I Break for Pussy" on the bumper and finds another woman on top of her fiancé. I won't spoil what happens after, but this spirit creates the bond between her and Milton as well as a troubled past relationship between Milton and his daughter for which Piper provides a second chance. Heard will one day be too A-list and above this material, so she's refreshing in the role.

Fichtner, who plays the devil's right hand of sorts, also brings a fun performance to the film. He's not one of those typical self-assured villains in spite of his other-worldly abilities, but he possesses the same malice. The slightest sense of humility makes him a memorable character despite the cliché role. Billy Burke as Jonah King, the Satanist who fancies himself better than everyone else, goes a bit more over-the-top, but also makes an effective villain.

The action of "Drive Angry," though much more about guns and gore than cars, satisfies for the most part except when it kowtows to the 3D. For those not watching with special glasses, that sort of zaps you out of the story.

"Drive Angry" ends up being everything you'd expect it to be, provided you expected a 3-D camp-fest manufactured in a petri dish. There's definitely a place for those kinds of films, but the distinguishing factor between good and bad exploitation lies in disguising the man behind the curtain, the puppeteer or whatever force putting that product together merely to entertain at the surface level. "Drive Angry" entertains, but the failure to conceal prevents any investment into the story or characters.

~Steven C

Visit my site at http://moviemusereviews.com

Nicolas Cage plays brutal felon John Milton who is thrown into hell for his crimes but escapes after cultists murder his daughter and take her baby. Armed with Satans gun and a 1969 blue Dodge Charger R/T 440, he goes after the bad guys with the help of Amber Heard. William Fichtner plays The Accountant, a sharp dressed operative of Satan tasked with bringing Milton and, the gun back to Hell. This is pure grindhouse entertainment so committed to its own junkiness that it becomes a guilty pleasure. The movie was shot in 3-D and is from the maker of the My Bloody Valentine remake.

Milton (Nicholas Cage), long hair bleached and greased back with vengeance, tosses his duffel bag into the back of newly-met stranger Piper's (Amber Heard) Dodge Charger. With her hands shoved into her daisy barely dukes, the uncertainty in her gaze is lost on, or possibly ignored by, Milton. As he opens the door to get in:

Piper: "I don't pick up hitchhikers, you know."

Milton: "I wasn't stickin' out my thumb."

*car door slam*

This early scene sums up exactly what you're getting yourself into with the Nicholas Cage driven movie, Drive Angry. You've seen the trailers. You've experienced Cage's knack to play unhinged, surrealistic characters. This 70's throwback to the pulp, metal on metal, grindhouse era of film doesn't ask you if you want a ride. You jump in without invitation and only know one thing: you'd better strap in. And it's with this that Drive Angry does not disappoint.

Milton, in his '64 Riviera, has just escaped from imprisonment and is searching for a baby snatched from her mother by a devil-worshipping cult hellbent on a full moon sacrifice led by Jonah King (Billy Burke of The Twilight Saga), a southernly sadistic soothsayer. It seems Milton's own daughter was once stolen from him by the same cult and, well, he's experiencing a little road rage as he shoots his way through one lead to the next. Along the way, he joins up with Piper and her '68 Charger who's pretty looks pack a pretty punch and isn't afraid to gun and run. All the while they are being chased across 6 state lines by trigger happy cops and The Accountant (William Fichtner of Prison Break), a seemingly supernatural hunter looking to return Milton to his warm, warm prison. Throw in a '71 Chevelle, unapologetic bloodshed, and absolutely necessary explosions, and you have one darkly comedic, action fueled vehicle.

Drive Angry embraces the fact that it is ridiculous by nature which makes it very enjoyable. The over the top dialogue, car chases, and 3D shootouts really add to making this a midnight moviegoer's film. Patrick Lussier and Todd Farmer (My Bloody Valentine 3D) aimed to keep the integral car sequences visceral and strayed away from CGI for a majority of the chases, though there is plenty of CGI elsewhere. Being an unabashed opponent to the influx of 3D in the cinema today, Drive Angry was filmed as a 3D film from the start and I actually liked it. Some shots were intentionally gimmicky which added to the humor, but the entire movie is a bit over the top and it flowed nicely.

Drive Angry makes no assumptions that it is anything but a popcorn-spilling, laugh-out- loud, violently raw roller coaster on its way no where near an Oscar. And it's better for it. If you don't mind having an arm shot and projected at your face while Nic Cage loses touch with reality, Drive Angry will provide an entertaining distraction from the repetitive daily commute.

3.5 seat belts out of 5

-MovieFloss.com