Fúria Sobre Rodas

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!

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

The film's marketing material from trailers to physical copy action up to promises something pretty.

Many promising actors, Cage, Heard, Fichtner among others. In part, it works. Interesting plot, etc. But still, this potential movie is missing a lot. Especially the final scene .., as if the budget ran out in the middle. So after a promising start, everyone somehow slips down.

So I looked at this for the second time. The memory image was something better, the third time will not come.

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).

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...