Drive Angry 3D
Nic Cage is Milton, one bad dude fresh out of Hell and on the hunt for a group of Devil worshipers whose leader killed his daughter and kidnapped her baby. Time’s running out for my man Milton though because he’s only got two days until the next full moon which is when the cult is planning on sacrificing the baby to unleash Hell on Earth. Good times.
Sadly, Nicolas Cage doesn’t exactly ignite the emotions of the crowds quite like he used to (I personally blame KNOWING and maybe those weird Asian commercials he did a couple years back) but in light of recent badass roles found in KICK-ASS and BAD LIEUTENANT (I also dug him in THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE) I’ve been willing to tap into my Nic Cage of the past Chi and let the pieces fall where they may. And let me tell you, DRIVE ANGRY has pieces falling, burning, breaking, exploding and flying in nearly every direction! They don’t make them like this anymore (not nearly as often as I’d like anyway) and that’s a shame because I had a lot of fun with this ride.
Now what ultimately pains me is that these R rated romps to Funville have been on the endangered species list for quite some time and their future isn’t exactly bright enough for shades. That said, 3D was a terrible idea (surprise, surprise) one that clearly was all about the Benjamins and it shows. It’s almost like the studio knew this film would be iffy in theatres so they said, “let’s shoot in 3D and make all the cash we can boys!” I’m sure this baby will fare pretty well on DVD and BLU-RAY but it still makes me mad that despite knowing they’re rolling the dice with R material in theatres these days, they decide to flip us, the genre fans, the 3D bird.
For a revenge plot the story’s still pretty juicy. I love everything about Cage’s character and though his (as well as every other) character’s dialogue is totally over the top, it’s still one of the coolest things about the script for me. William Fichtner is one of my favourite actors and the man plays his role here to perfection as Hell’s accountant. Most of his lines are pure gold and that part with him in the Hydrogen truck blaring “That’s The Way I Like It” had me laughing hard. I won’t take anything away from Billy Burke though; he was one crazy villain, the savvy type of evil you want to see die but love every second he’s on screen just the same. As for Amber Heard, she handled herself well and is (as always) a vision to behold.
DRIVE ANGRY will not get tremendous reviews, nor will it break any type of box office records, rather it will no doubt be ridiculed, scoffed at and beat down like most of the garbage that hits theatres in early months of the new year. Don’t let that fool you though, if you’re anything like me (and shame on you if you are) you’ll have a devilish good time with this Delorean trip back to the late eighties/early nineties style action flick that will leave you sporting a wicked grin by film’s end (I’m still grinning). There’s a lot to appreciate here but without sharing too much I’ll part with my favorite bit which was Nic’s “God Killer” gun that reminded me of the Colt from SUPERNATURAL. This type of film is right up my alley (a dark, cold place you wouldn’t wander into unless you were packing) and though films like this certainly do get old when overplayed, it’s still nice to have the option to hit them up once in awhile (FASTER was a similar guilty pleasure ride). I mean seriously, do you want to see crap like GNOMEO AND JULIET and BEASTLY rule the theatre? I know I certainly don’t.
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