Drive Angry

This goes way beyond "guilty pleasure" all the way to "must-see trash." Does everything that "Grindhouse" failed to do. Dirty, gory, violent, but never unpleasant from start to finish. Patrick Lussier keeps the action efficient and picturesque. Nicolas Cage in one of his only successful forays into the action genre. Amber Heard as a worthy and most attractive sidekick. David Morse and Tom Atkins expertly holding up the "oldster" side of the street. William Fichtner in a performance that would have been a shoo-in for a supporting Oscar nomination if the movie were respectable. But thank goodness--it's thoroughly disreputable. And did I say fun? Let me say it again: fun!

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

Nicolas Cage Week: Day 2

Drive Angry is an hour and a half of beautiful, blissful exploitation and carnage, a grind house shot to the gut that never holds back, doesn't care an ounce about logic, and aims to do one thing: ensure the viewers enjoyment unconditionally. Nicolas Cage plays John Milton, a gruff badass who escapes from hell by literally charging his '74 Chevelle 454 right through the gate, hot on the pursuit of a roaming band of thugs who know what happened to his daughter and baby grandson. He wastes no second in pummelling both pavement with his tires and people with his fists, and pretty much any gun or blunt object he can get his hands on. His daughter was murdered, and his grandson kidnapped by a demented Louisiana satanist cult, led by eloquent monster Jonah King (Billy Burke, dryly subverting his nice guy image with evil aplomb). Milton aims to eradicate anyone and everyone who gets in his way, with the help of sexy Amher Heard and old pal David Morse. What he isn't prepared for is the arrival of 'The Accountant' (William Fichtner), the devil's suave, soft spoken bounty hunter, dispatched to bring Milton back to the fiery depths. Fichtner has always had an ice cool theatrical flair to his work, and he's the highlight of the film here, an unphased, silky prick, owning every moment with his unmistakable brand of cool. Tom Atkins also has a cameo as the worlds most enthusiastic Highway Patrol officer. The movie goes at full blast, and to go along with that energy there's a cheeky script that constantly nods at the viewer and let's us know what a fan of the genre the filmmakers are. Nowhere else can you see Nic Cage escape from hell, drink from the skull of his enemy and have a gunfight while in the middle of banging a bar waitress. If that isn't enough to get you excited, well...

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.

Nicolas Cage takes a lot of flack for his acting choices. The man is likely the most inconsistent actor in the entirety of Hollywood, jumping from headlining critically acclaimed films like Leaving Las Vegas and Adaptation to headlining putrid, bottom of the barrel films like Next and The Wicker Man. But going through his filmography, sorting the good from the bad, and the bad from the unwatchable, you will find a good handful of films that are just meant to be silly and fun. This is where Drive Angry 3D resides.

John Milton (Cage) did some bad things, and was sent to hell as a result. After the death of his daughter and the kidnapping of his granddaughter at the hands of crazy cult leader Jonah King (Billy Burke), Milton escapes hell and becomes a man on a mission. As he hunts and searches for King, he brings the gorgeous Piper (Amber Heard) along for the ride to assist him in his quest.

Drive Angry 3D was unfairly trampled by critics when it was released just under a month ago, and it is a real shame it never was able to find a true audience. Just looking at the trailer should have suggested exactly what kind of film you were in for, and this one delivers at all turns. Right after its gory and explosion-filled opening, you get one ridiculous set piece after the next, moving at a near delirious speed through some of the most over-the-top sequences of the last decade. There is an almost automatic comparison to Grindhouse and more specifically, Death Proof, and it is well warranted. There is next to nothing to take seriously in Drive Angry 3D. There is no thinking involved. It was never meant to look or act like an Oscar-winner. All it wants is for you to strap in and enjoy the ride.

A lot of the fun and enjoyment comes from the 3D more than I would like to admit. The film is of the rare breed of actually being filmed in 3D as opposed to being post-converted, and you can tell in just how much stronger and better it looks as a result. There are no real dull or dark moments, and only a few instances where it feels like the gimmick it actually is. In most cases, it just looks natural and stylish – a natural progression for the grindhouse, B-movie genre. And though the special effects do look cheesy, they fit in almost perfectly with the visual motif and landscape the 3D provides for the film. But it is not just the elements that pop out and on the screen that are impressive. A flashback scene, with Cage flashing back in the foreground and the scene playing out in the background is of particular note, because it actually does something unique outside of what we have come to expect from the 3D effects Hollywood continues to pump out. It adds to the medium, and suggests that we may see some creativity out of this format yet.

The rest of the fun, when not laughing near maniacally at all the brutal carnage going on (the effects of "The Godkiller" are of particular note), comes from the goofy dialogue and delivery from the cast. They may look stone faced, but you can tell they are having a great time acting out this preposterous storyline. Burke and William Fichtner (who plays the Devil's right hand man, The Accountant) seem to be having the most fun hamming it up, and doling out ridiculous one-liners. Just watching them react and play their roles so deliciously over-the-top is more than enough reason to see the film on its own. Heard plays the drop-dead gorgeous blonde she has perfected over the years to a tee, adding in a bad ass rebellious attitude for good measure. While she does not wear those fantastic booty shorts for the entirety of the film, rest assured that you will not complain about her other outfit choices (if of course, that is a selling point to your watching the film).

Surprisingly, Cage plays Milton cool and monotone. He does the most outrageous things in the movie, and gets many of the great one-liners, but he seems very mellowed out in every instance. He seems to not be his over-the-top, absurdist self, which is saying a lot since he's made a habit in the last few years of making each character more unusually eccentric than the last (see The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans and Kick-Ass for proof). He seems perfectly comfortable playing his character as the closest thing to the straight man, while everyone else acts over-the-top.

What I disliked about the film was that it stumbles as it nears the finish line. Late in the film, David Morse is introduced merely as a means for the plot to advance to the ludicrous ending. And all his character does is stall the film, and make it run longer than it needs to. While his entrance sheds a bit of light on Milton as a character, by that point it is too little, too late. As stated previously, this is not the kind of film that benefits from characterization and explanation. It revels in saying and doing irrational and silly things. Why try to turn the movie around on its audience, who had been eating up every word and action until that point? It just makes the film run longer, and takes away some of the fun.

Granted you know what you are getting into, Drive Angry 3D is a ridiculously over-the-top and incredibly fun diversion. This not a serious movie in the least, and may even offend some people with how outrageous it is. But if you can handle the heat, this underrated gem may prove we cannot give up on Nicolas Cage just yet.

8/10.

(This review also appeared on http://www.geekspeakmagazine.com).