Review of Drive Angry (2011) by James S — 16 May 2012

When a film begins with some distinctly dodgy cgi depicting a muscle car driving out of what looks like the gates of hell, one would be safe to assume that this isn't going to be a film with Oscar gathering ambitions. That is not to say that Drive Angry doesn't have aspirations of it's own. It is a film which aspires to violence, nudity, crackingly quotable one liners and to entertain in the most explosive way possible, at which it is a roaring success.

Nicholas Cage (a man who must regard 2011 as amongst his very best, what with this and Kick Ass) is Milton, a guy who has some how broken out of hell to come back to Earth to stop his granddaughter being used by Billy Burke to summon all hell fire and brimstone on our mortal existence. Along the way he is ably assisted by Amber Heard as a waitress who tags along with him because she hasn't got anything better to do.

Cage displays some decent comic book style acting and his Milton character is much more interesting than his Johnny Blaze in Ghost Rider. He still does the half stoned, glazed eyes thing that he does in every film where he isn't shouting a lot but for Milton it seems to fit. It helps that Amber Heard is very good here and shouldn't just be regarded as the films T & A filler. She is much better here than she was in All the Boys Love Mandy Lane. Billy Burke isn't bad on villain duties though he never feels quite like the massive threat to all mankind that he should. That might be because he is overshadowed by the brilliant William Fichter as a man known only as The Accountant, in pursuit of Milton. A cool customer who seems to have a way with people, even if that way may end up in their grizzly death.

There's plenty of action in Drive Angry. As one would expect from a film with such a title, a lot of it involves automobiles and there are numerous car chases of the ludicrously dangerous variety but they're all presented in a rather cool fashion. The action doesn't stop once out of the vehicles either and in a scene which is destined to become infamous Cage takes down a gang of bad guys while getting down tonight with the waitress he's just hooked up with.

Add to this a script which sparkles with some great, tongue in cheek dialogue. It might not quite have the wit of Quentin Tarantino's From Dusk Till Dawn but Drive Angry has more than its fair share of excellent come backs and put downs.

So what we have here is a film which is full of guns, cars, boobs, fights and Nicholas Cage. It is the perfect film for viewing with beer and pizza, when you might have had a sh*t day and all you want is entertainment of the most mindless type possible. Sit back, buckle up your seatbelt, unbuckle your pants and enjoy the ride.